This study utilized a stress-process model to examine the impact of having a female family member with substance use or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders on family caregivers' depressive symptomatology. Participants were 82 women receiving substance abuse treatment and the family member providing the most social support for each woman. Greater caregiver depressive symptomatology w...

This study sought to identify and analyze the significance of the process of dying for family caregivers of elderly patients in palliative care. It involved qualitative research with the use of interviews. The data were scrutinized by content analysis. The presence of chronic diseases that lead the elderly patient to require palliative care imposes a series of complex and ambivalent feelings on...

OBJECTIVE This article examines whether race and ethnicity contribute to the differential use of caregiver support services, when controlling for caregiver and care recipient characteristics, as represented by predisposing, enabling, and need factors included in the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use. METHODS The study includes 1,508 individuals who provide care to an ill or disabled adu...

There are 5.3 million people with Alzheimer’s disease in the US—a number expected to grow as the baby-boomer generation enters old age, with estimates that 7.7 million people will be affected by 2030. From 65 to 75% of dementia patients are cared for at home by family members. According to the 2010 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, 10.9 million Americans provide 12.5 billion hou...

BACKGROUND COPD becomes a long-term burden on family members who serve as day-to-day caregivers, and causes healthcare systems to incur substantial costs. COPD is both preventable and treatable, and one important aspect of COPD treatment is patients' self-management. This study aimed to investigate relationships between self-management and the caregiver burden, and the influence of family care...

This issue of Medicine & Health/ Rhode Island offers a broad perspective of caregiving across distinct developmental periods and with various illnesses. While the primary emphasis is family caregiving, attention is also devoted to professional caregivers in nursing homes. Below is a brief description for clinicians regarding options for assessing the needs of family caregivers. This introductio...