Articles: caregivers.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Sep 1997
Evaluating the caregiver's intervention in the elder's task performance: capacity versus actual behavior.
As an elder's functional impairment increases, so in general does the tendency for the caregiver to intervene in the elder's daily activities and initiatives. To a certain extent, such intervention is necessary to compensate for the elder's loss of independent ability, and without such intervention, adverse outcomes for the elder are a possibility. The need for some intervention is usually clear-cut for advanced dementia, given its associated severe disability and handicap, but less clear in elders who are just beginning to show signs of cognitive decline. ⋯ A sample of 51 cognitively impaired elders and 74 cognitively normal elders was used to look at the relationship between predicted capacity and actual self-administration of medication, stratifying by level of cognitive status. The highly significant concordance between the MMT score and caregivers' report of medication administration supports the expectation that capacity is influenced by cognitive status. In those discordant cases, further information is needed to interpret help in medication administration as excessive or insufficient intervention.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Differences in patients' and family caregivers' perceptions of the pain experience influence patient and caregiver outcomes.
The purposes of this study were to determine if there were differences in pain intensity scores, pain duration scores, mood states, and quality of life of oncology outpatients whose pain intensity scores were congruent with their family caregivers compared to patients whose pain intensity scores were non-congruent and to determine if there were differences in mood states, health status, and caregiver strain between family caregivers whose pain intensity scores were congruent with their family members and those family caregivers whose pain intensity scores were non-congruent. A total of 78 patient-caregiver dyads participated in the study. Patients completed a Demographic Questionnaire, a Cancer Pain Questionnaire, the Profile of Mood States, and the Multidimensional Quality of Life Scale-Cancer 2. ⋯ Patients in the non-congruent dyads (i.e. difference of >10 on the VAS score) had significantly more mood disturbance and a poorer quality of life than patients in the congruent dyads. Family caregivers in the non-congruent dyads had significantly higher caregiver strain score than caregivers in the congruent dyads. These findings suggest that differences in the perception of the pain experience between patients and their family caregivers is associated with deleterious outcomes for the patient and their family caregivers.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jun 1997
Elder abuse in people with dementia in Northern Ireland: Prevalence and predictors in cases referred to a psychiatry of old age service.
To establish the prevalence of elder abuse in community-dwelling patients with dementia and to test the hypothesis that there is no difference in carer and patient characteristics between the abused and non-abused populations. ⋯ Elder abuse is associated with aspects of the patient/carer relationship and should be regarded as a significant problem in patients with dementia referred to an old age service.
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Some caregivers just seem to have a "knack" when it comes to dealing with people with Alzheimer's disease. But you don't have to be born with it--many coping techniques can be learned.
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The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model developed to explain family satisfaction among 171 caregivers of elderly parents. Using LISREL to estimate path coefficients, the findings support family satisfaction as directly and indirectly influenced by reciprocity, emotional well-being and family functioning. ⋯ Family satisfaction was also indirectly influenced by positive and negative exchanges received by the parent. Increasing caregivers awareness of the reciprocal nature of their relationships with all family members may be an effective strategy in helping them appreciate their contribution to the well-being of their parents and achieve satisfaction in the caregiving role.