Caregiver Burden and Psychoeducational Interventions in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review

Background: Caring for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with poor quality of life and deteriorating health for the caregiver. Methods: This comprehensive review was performed to investigate the current literature on caregiver burden, factors affecting caregiver burden and the ef...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: N. Beinart, J. Weinman, D. Wade, R. Brady
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Karger Publishers 2012-12-01
Series:Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/345777
Description
Summary:Background: Caring for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with poor quality of life and deteriorating health for the caregiver. Methods: This comprehensive review was performed to investigate the current literature on caregiver burden, factors affecting caregiver burden and the effectiveness of different types of intervention. Results: Successful psychoeducational interventions for caregivers have included provision of information about AD, care planning, advice about patient management and the importance of self-care, skills training to aid patient management, stress management training, and problem-solving and decision-making guidance. Conclusion: Interventions that are individually tailored to the caregiver are particularly effective at reducing caregiver burden and should be further investigated. The use of effective pharmacological treatment for the improvement and/or stabilisation of AD symptoms in the patient is also likely to improve caregiver burden.
ISSN:1664-5464