BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A large proportion of disabled stroke survivors live at home and are supported by informal caregivers. Identification of determinants of caregiver burden will help to target caregiver interventions. METHODS Data on patient, caregiver, and health and social support characteristics were collected prospectively over 1 year in 232 stroke survivors in a randomized trial of c...

Introduction. Compassion fatigue is a concept used with increasing frequency in the nursing literature. The objective of this paper is to identify common themes across the literature and to apply these themes, and an existing model of compassion fatigue, to informal caregivers for family members with dementia. Findings. Caregivers for family members with dementia may be at risk for developing c...

PURPOSE The article seeks to identify patterns of service utilization among informal caregivers of frail older adults. In particular, the study examined determinants that explain heterogeneous variations in caregivers' service use patterns. METHODS Using a latent class analysis (LCA) on the 2004 National Long-Term Care Survey and Informal Caregiver data (n = 1,908), this study classifies over...

PURPOSE This study describes the preliminary experiences of 10 states in providing support services to family or informal caregivers of elderly adults and adults with disabilities; it focuses on the newly created National Family Caregiver Support Program, state general funds, Medicaid-waiver programs, and other state-funding streams. DESIGN AND METHODS Case studies were conducted, between Mar...

Heart failure (HF) is the leading cause of rehospitalization in older adults. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine whether telemonitoring by an advanced practice nurse reduced subsequent hospital readmissions, emergency department visits, costs, and risk of hospital readmission for patients with HF. One hundred two patient/caregiver dyads were randomized into 2 groups postdischarge; 8...

Effects of caregiving on physical health have received less theoretical and empirical attention than effects on psychological health. This meta-analysis integrates results from 176 studies on correlates of caregiver physical health. Caregiver depressive symptoms had stronger associations with physical health than did objective stressors. Higher levels of care recipient behavior problems were mo...

Interventions to reduce caregiver burden are of great interest as the number of informal family caregivers continues to grow. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of an online mindfulness meditation intervention for community-dwelling older adult caregivers and to evaluate its impact on quality of life, caregiver burden, and psychological well-being. A total of 40 caregivers we...

INTRODUCTION The prevalence of dementia is increasing without a known cure, resulting in an increasing number of informal caregivers. Caring for a person with dementia results in increased stress and depressive symptoms. There are several behavioural interventions designed to alleviate stress and depressive symptoms in caregivers of persons with dementia with evidence of efficacy. Two of the be...

A review of the scientific literature devoted to informal care of demented people has shown two ways of conceiving this form of help. The oldest and dominant one sees caregiving as a burden; the more recent and less frequently reported perceives caregiving as a significant experience for the caregiver but also for the care receiver. This paper will focus on this second perspective, and describe...