Psychosocial intervention for family caregivers of people with dementia reduces caregiver's burden: development and effect after 6 and 12 months. Predictors of health and human services use by persons with dementia and their family caregivers. What is the ideal support group? Views of Australian people with cancer and their carers. Can counseling and support reduce burden and depressive symptoms in caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease during the transition to institutionalization? Results from the New York University caregiver intervention study. Caregiving as a risk factor for mortality: the Caregiver Health Effects Study. Does a ‘Singing Together Group’ improve the quality of life of people with a dementia and their carers? A pilot evaluation study
A number of different intervention programmes have been described in the literature for caregivers of people with dementia , but the nature of intervention has varied widely . The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of psychosocial intervention on family caregiver 's level of burden and satisfaction , and possible influence of the caregiver 's relationship and health and the patient 's severity of the disease on the effects of intervention . All persons , 70 years and older , from two districts of a municipality ( 2721 individuals ) who were in receipt of any form of social services were invited to participate in a screening of cognitive decline , and 1656 home visits were made . Those with symptoms of cognitive decline , and having a family caregiver , were invited for a further medical examination . Data were analysed from 308 family caregivers : 153 caregivers who underwent intervention and 155 control caregivers who did not . Repeated measures were carried out 6 and 12 months later . Outcomes were measured using instruments that had been tested for reliability and validity , and all patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV dementia criteria . Caregivers who underwent the psychosocial intervention ( 5-week programme and 3-month conversation group ) reported significantly lower strain and disappointment after 6 months , and this trend remained after 12 months . Satisfaction , measured in terms of purpose , increased in the intervention group and decreased in the control group . The best effect on caregivers in the intervention group was found early in the progression of dementia and in caregivers with impaired health . These findings emphasize the importance of identifying family caregivers early in the caring process to optimize well-being . This study demonstrates that psychosocial intervention with a clearly defined aim that includes giving information and having a conversation group have significant , positive effects on burden and satisfaction for caregivers of people with dementia The aim of this study was to identify predictors of the use of health and human services  by community residing persons with dementia and their family caregivers .  Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 608 primary caregivers of community residing persons with dementia who were r and omly selected from a state-wide dementia registry . The And erson Behavioral Model of Health Care Use was used as the analytic framework . Hierarchical ordinary least squares regression models were developed to analyze predictors of health and human services use . Predisposing , enabling , and need variables explained 40.9 % of the variance in service use , 29.8 % of the variance in health service use , and 38.1 % of the variance in the use of human services . Enabling variables explained more variance in the use of health and human services than did need or predisposing variables . In contrast to the health services utilization literature that points to the importance of need variables , the results of this study lend support to findings in the caregiving literature that indicate that enabling variables are at least as important as need variables in predicting the use of community services by family caregivers of persons with dementia AIMS To explore views on the ideal structure and process of support groups for cancer patients . PATIENTS AND METHODS From 184 cancer support groups identified in NSW , Australia , 50 were r and omly selected within strata of five variations in group structure : homogenous versus heterogenous participants ; urban versus rural ; community versus hospital setting , leader with cancer experience or not ; and with professional training or not . Four hundred and seventy-six group members completed a question naire . RESULTS Participants valued being with others like them , gaining information about cancer and having an effective leader . Groups were seen to be currently failing people from culturally and linguistically diverse background s , and links with oncology health professionals were inadequate . Few clear preferences for structure were expressed , except for the non-exclusion of those with a poor prognosis . Patients tended to prefer the structure of their own group , but patients longer since diagnosis , those with better informal support and carers preferred to meet in the community setting , while men with prostate cancer preferred a medical setting . CONCLUSIONS Some suggestions for group structure and process can be made on the basis of these findings ; however , individual variation suggests that a needs analysis should be made by individual groups OBJECTIVES To determine whether counseling and support reduce the burden and depressive symptoms of spouse caregivers of patients with Alzheimer 's disease ( AD ) during the transition to institutionalization . DESIGN A r and omized , controlled trial of an enhanced counseling and support program for spouse caregivers of persons with AD . Structured interviews were conducted with spouse caregivers at baseline , every 4 months during Year 1 , and every 6 months thereafter for up to 16 years . SETTING Outpatient research clinic in the New York City metropolitan area . PARTICIPANTS Referred volunteer sample of 406 spouse caregivers of community-dwelling patients with AD enrolled over a 9.5-year period . INTERVENTION Enhanced counseling and support consisting of six sessions of individual and family counseling , support group participation , and continuous availability of ad hoc telephone counseling . MEASUREMENTS Outcome measures included burden ( modified Zarit Burden Interview ) and depressive symptoms ( Geriatric Depression Scale ) . RESULTS Burden and depressive symptoms were significantly lower for caregivers in the treatment group than for controls receiving usual care at the time of and after institutionalization . Nursing home admission itself significantly reduced burden and depressive symptoms in the intervention and control groups . CONCLUSION Institutionalization alone can reduce caregiver burden and depressive symptoms , but enhanced counseling provides additional long-term benefits . The results offer some of the first clinical evidence of the benefits of enhanced counseling during the transition to institutionalization for caregivers of people with AD CONTEXT There is strong consensus that caring for an elderly individual with disability is burdensome and stressful to many family members and contributes to psychiatric morbidity . Research ers have also suggested that the combination of loss , prolonged distress , the physical dem and s of caregiving , and biological vulnerabilities of older caregivers may compromise their physiological functioning and increase their risk for physical health problems , leading to increased mortality . OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between caregiving dem and s among older spousal caregivers and 4-year all-cause mortality , controlling for sociodemographic factors , prevalent clinical disease , and sub clinical disease at baseline . DESIGN Prospect i ve population -based cohort study , from 1993 through 1998 with an average of 4.5 years of follow-up . SETTING Four US communities . PARTICIPANTS A total of 392 caregivers and 427 noncaregivers aged 66 to 96 years who were living with their spouses . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Four-year mortality , based on level of caregiving : ( 1 ) spouse not disabled ; ( 2 ) spouse disabled and not helping ; ( 3 ) spouse disabled and helping with no strain reported ; or(4 ) spouse disabled and helping with mental or emotional strain  reported . RESULTS After 4 years of follow-up , 103 participants ( 12.6 % ) died . After adjusting for sociodemographic factors , prevalent disease , and sub clinical cardiovascular disease , participants who were providing care and experiencing caregiver strain had mortality risks that were 63 % higher than noncaregiving controls ( relative risk [ RR ] , 1.63 ; 95 % confidence interval [ CI ] , 1.00 - 2.65 ) . Participants who were providing care but not experiencing strain ( RR , 1.08 ; 95 % CI , 0.61 - 1.90 ) and those with a disabled spouse who were not providing care ( RR , 1.37 ; 95 % CI , 0.73 - 2.58 ) did not have elevated adjusted mortality rates relative to the noncaregiving controls . CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that being a caregiver who is experiencing mental or emotional strain is an independent risk factor for mortality  among elderly spousal caregivers . Caregivers who report strain associated with caregiving are more likely to die than noncaregiving controls Ten people with dementia ( PWD ) and their family carers participated in a Singing Together Group for 10 weeks and measures of mood , quality of life , PWD 's behavioural and psychological problems , activities of daily living and cognitive status were measured at pre , post and 10-week follow-up . Engagement levels were monitored during the sessions and care partners asked to rate each session . Additional qualitative information was obtained through interview pre-post and at follow-up and subjected to thematic analysis . The results showed that PWD were deteriorating slowly over the course of the study on all measures but that they and their carers ’ quality of life remained relatively stable . Engagement levels during the group were very high and attendance excellent . Qualitative data gave strong support to the group having promoted wellbeing of all participants and Nolan 's ‘ Senses Framework ’ was used to explore this further . Future research directions are suggested
BACKGROUND Informal caregivers who perform at-home care of older people with dementia might have feelings of a meaningless existence , burden , anxiety , stress and fatigue .
Support groups are considered an especially effective and economical way to relieve informal caregivers '  stress and burden , although it is unclear if participating in group meetings produces a meaningful outcome for the informal caregiver .
OBJECTIVES To identify the meaningfulness of participating in support groups for informal caregivers of older adults with dementia living in their own home .