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Family caregiving in dementia.

Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are a major health problem. Currently, there are 5.3 million people with Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. This number is expected to grow significantly as the baby-boomer generation enters old age, with estimates that 7.7 million people will be affected by 2030. It is estimated that 65 to 75% of dementia patients are cared for at home by family members, including both spouses and adult children.1 According to the 2010 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, 10.9 million Americans provide unpaid care for persons with dementia. They are involved in 12.5 billion hours of care per year, which is valued at almost $144 million. In Rhode Island, it is estimated that 39,138 individuals are providing about 44 million hours of care per year. Providing care for an individual with dementia is extremely stressful and has far-reaching consequences. Because dementia involves relentless cognitive deterioration, family caregivers have to manage changing demands and unexpected problem behaviors. Caregivers often sacrifice their own needs and well-being to provide care for their loved one. The distress experienced by dementia caregivers is typically referred to as caregiver burden, which includes both objective aspects of providing care (e.g., time and physical aspects of providing caregiver) and subjective experience of caregiving (e.g., perceptions and emotional reactions to caregiving). Although there are strong correlations between caregiver burden and depression, they are not necessarily the same construct.2 Our view is that caregiver burden represents a stressor that if not ameliorated will lead to mental health consequences such as depression. In this article, I will review the consequences of caring for an individual with dementia, briefly discuss theoretical models of caregiver stress, highlight the current state of the literature on psychosocial interventions for dementia caregivers, and identify future directions for dementia caregiver research.
Source: PubMed
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1850665649
FWCI: 3.447
Cites: 3
Cited by: 89
Related to: 10