Family Caregiving of Persons With Dementia: Prevalence, Health Effects, and Support Strategies

The authors summarize the dementia caregiving literature and provide recommendations regarding practice guidelines for health professionals working with caregivers. Family caregiving of older persons with disability has become commonplace in the United States because of increases in life expectancy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2004-05, Vol.12 (3), p.240-249
Main Authors: Schulz, Richard, Martire, Lynn M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Caregivers - psychology
Caregivers - statistics & numerical data
Cost of Illness
Dementia - economics
Dementia - psychology
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
Guidelines as Topic
Health Personnel - psychology
Health Services for the Aged - economics
Health Status
Humans
Mental Disorders - economics
Mental Disorders - etiology
Mental Disorders - therapy
Public Health
Quality of Life
Social Support
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Summary:The authors summarize the dementia caregiving literature and provide recommendations regarding practice guidelines for health professionals working with caregivers. Family caregiving of older persons with disability has become commonplace in the United States because of increases in life expectancy and the aging of the population, with resulting higher prevalence of chronic diseases and associated disabilities, increased constraints in healthcare reimbursement, and advances in medical technology. As a result, family members are increasingly being asked to perform complex tasks similar to those carried out by paid health or social service providers, often at great cost to their own well-being and great benefit to their relatives and society as a whole. The public health significance of caregiving has spawned an extensive literature in this area, much of it focused on dementia caregiving because of the unique and extreme challenges associated with caring for someone with cognitive impairment. This article summarizes the literature on dementia caregiving, identifies key issues and major findings regarding the definition and prevalence of caregiving, describes the psychiatric and physical health effects of caregiving, and reviews various intervention approaches to improving caregiver burden, depression, and quality of life. Authors review practice guidelines and recommendations for healthcare providers in light of the empirical literature on family caregiving.
ISSN:1064-7481
1545-7214
DOI:10.1097/00019442-200405000-00002