Introduction Caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease (PwAD) report significant stress, burden and depression compared to caregivers of people with other dementias, especially when neuropsychiatric symptoms are prominent. Adequate coping strategies can modify the impact of stressful situations and increase the caregivers’ quality of life. Objective To systematically review the different coping strategies used by caregivers of PwAD to manage neuropsychiatric symptoms. Method We carried out electronic searches using MEDLINE (PubMed), SciELO, Web of Knowledge Cross Search (Thomson Scientific/ISI Web Services) and PsycINFO databases to select studies on coping in PwAD caregivers published from January 2005 to July 2017. The search terms were coping, caregivers, strategy, onset, adaptation, family, behavior, dementia and Alzheimer. The studies were organized in three categories: problem-focused, emotion-focused and dysfunctional coping strategies. Results We found 2,277 articles. After application of exclusion criteria and exclusion of redundant references, 24 articles were analyzed. Emotion-focused coping was the most commonly used strategy among PwAD caregivers. The use of this strategy associated with religion and spirituality may help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Problem-focused coping strategies were mostly used with active coping interventions. Problem-solving coping may have buffered the impact of acute psychological stressors on procoagulant activity. Dysfunctional coping strategies were associated with increase of caregiver burden. Conclusion The evaluated studies showed that the use and development of coping strategies may have ameliorated the depressive symptoms, anxiety and burden of caregivers. However, longitudinal studies are still needed that clearly describe the type of coping strategy used in relation to the presented results.
ABSTRACT. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant concerns about the management and care for people with dementia and their caregivers. In this context, this work will discuss how social isolation or social distancing caused by the pandemic may impact the clinical management of people with dementia, caregivers’ health, and dementia research. The pandemic disrupts all forms of social interaction and may increase the behavioral impairment of people with dementia. Regarding pharmacological treatment, telemedicine is an option, but the context of social isolation raises questions about how to manage people with dementia with lack of cognitive stimulation and non-pharmacological treatment. In addition, the impact of the pandemic on caregivers should be considered. There is some evidence that telephone counseling can reduce depressive symptoms of caregivers of people with dementia. In dementia research, social isolation imposes researchers to modify their study protocols in order to continue collecting data by developing remote tools to assess the participants such as electronic informed consent and online questionnaires and tests. Thus, there is an urgent need for the evaluation and refinement of interventions to address several cognitive, behavioral, and clinical aspects of the long-term impact of the pandemic in dementia.
Introduction:Resilience is a dynamic process that acts to modify the effects of an adverse life event. In this study, we aimed to test the construct validity of the Resilience Scale by employing exploratory and confirmatory procedures, and to investigate the relationship between caregiver's resilience and clinical status of people with Alzheimer's disease. Methods: A sample of 143 dyads of people with Alzheimer's disease and their primary caregivers were included. Results: The total Resilience Scale mean score was 140.3 (standard deviation [SD] = 16.289), ranging from 25 to 175, indicating a high level of resilience. Cronbach's alpha was high (α = 0.77), indicating excellent internal consistency. The mean of corrected item-total correlation coefficients was moderate. The Resilience Scale presented a four-factor solution with a well-defined structure: sense of life and selfsufficiency, perseverance, self-confidence and equanimity, and meaningfulness. Conclusion:The findings indicate excellent internal consistency of the Resilience Scale when used to evaluate psychological and emotional difficulties of caregivers, even though the correlations observed between the Resilience Scale and clinical variables were not significant for functionality, mood, awareness, neuropsychiatric symptoms, or burden.
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