Older adults who have reduced decision-making capacity and no family or friends
to compensate for these deficiencies are known as unbefriended
and require a public guardian. The purpose of this study was to review the
peer-reviewed and grey literature to determine the scope of available research
on unbefriended older adults in Canada and the United States. We found limited
research examining unbefriended older adults. No Canadian studies or reports
were located. Unbefriended older adults were childless or had fewer children,
were more cognitively impaired, and were older than older adults who were not
unbefriended. These findings demonstrate a stark scarcity of studies on
unbefriended older adults. Research is urgently needed using standardized data
collection of guardianship status in order to enable studies of the prevalence
of public guardianship in Canada.
Introduction The number of people with dementia has been increasing. Evidence shows that over 16 million family caregivers provide unpaid care for people with dementia. However, family caregivers experience several challenges throughout their caregiving role, including that of social isolation. Although social isolation in people with dementia has been well documented, social isolation in their family caregivers has not received as much scholarly attention. This scoping review sought to address this dearth of research through the following research question: “What are themes, concepts, or constructs that describe social isolation of family caregivers for people living with dementia?”. Method An electronic search was conducted in PubMed, PsycInfo, and Scopus, using the following Boolean search phrase: dementia AND “social isolation” AND (caregiver OR carers). Content analysis was conducted to identify relevant themes. Findings The initial search yielded 301 studies. Through screening processes, 13 studies were eligible for review. Based on a synthesis of evidence, five themes emerged from the data: disease progression, psychological state, social networks, social supports, and technology. Discussion This review demonstrates that caregiving is related to social isolation in family caregivers of people living with dementia. The experience of social isolation was related to the progression of dementia, psychological states, and lack of supports. In contrast, social supports, social networks, and using technology may reduce social isolation. Identifying themes provides policy and practice implications, such as using information and communication technology to create and redefine social networks.
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