Long Distance Caregiving: An Evaluative Review of the Literature

Abstract

A comprehensive and evaluative review of empirical research published between 2000 and 2010 specific to long distance caregiving is provided to identify what is known about this subgroup of caregivers and to identify gaps in knowledge. We searched peer-reviewed journals included in the following databases: Academic Search Premier (EBSCO), PROQuest Direct, Social Work Abstracts, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PsychInfo. Searches were restricted to English language publications between 2000 and 2010. Search terms included: 'review + caregiving + dementia', 'meta-analyses + caregiving + dementia,' 'caregiving + dementia + not institutional,' 'informal + caregiving,' 'family + caregiving', 'caregiving + technology'. Any searches including the term 'dementia' were repeated without that term. These same searches were repeated with the term 'distance' added to each. Empirical research specific to long distance caregiving is reviewed in detail. A brief review is provided of other closely related research. Long distance caregivers report being heavily involved in the care of their family member, regardless of distance and surprisingly, are often the only or primary caregiver. The specific needs for future research to inform best practice that goes beyond description of this important subgroup of caregivers is discussed.While a great deal has been written on many aspects of caregiving for older persons, very little empirical research has been published specific to informal care provided by families to its elderly relatives who are living at a great geographic distance from

On the Suitability and Potential of Nursing Care Discussion Forums as a Health Promotion Measure for Long-Distance Caregiving Relatives: Evidence from Upper Austria

“…LDCs suffer from completely different challenges compared to local caregivers [26,29]. These include: time exposure and financial expenses of (regularly) commuting between at least two places of residence, being torn between perceived obligation, the desire to give something back and the actual opportunity to engage in domestic care, as well as living with uncertainties related to information on the actual status of well-being and health of the older parent(s), being condemned to observe the older parent(s) physical and mental deterioration from afar and experience conflicts with other family members who provide most of the care locally [24][25][26]29,39,43].…”

“…Life and stress situations of LDCs individually differ and depend on the degree of care need, the clinical picture, particularly cancer and dementia, which are becoming more and more relevant [23,42,44], the availability of formal and informal support on-site [45] and the LDCs' attitude or readiness to commute, as well as the geographical distance itself [25,46]. In addition, it was found that women tend to be more willing to overcome longer geographical distances for caregiving reasons than men [1].…”

“…For the heterogeneous collective of LDCs, it is difficult to estimate the need for professionally-led support groups such as the NCDFs, because the caregiving situations, including the amount of formal, or rather professional (health and care), and of informal (future) family support on-site, as well as the degree of personally experienced strains associated to strategies differ from case to case. Considering this, sound empirical data on the use of health promotion measures by LDCs are still missing [25], but are urgently needed.…”

“…Thus far, the efficiency of professionally-led support groups or NCDFs and their added value for psychological well-being and health of caregivers of cared-for elder persons of different clinical pictures is discussed controversially [16][17][18][19][20][21][22], while the issue of demand and location planning as well as the design of health promotion and public health measures-in comparison to local caregiving relatives [14,[23][24][25][26][27][28]-are disregarded. It is precisely the latter aspect that needs attention regarding a considerable proportion of informal caregivers whose amount will increase in the future [25,29], namely long-distance caregivers. This also applies for their coping strategies, health literacy and use of health promotion measures [24,25].…”

“…It is precisely the latter aspect that needs attention regarding a considerable proportion of informal caregivers whose amount will increase in the future [25,29], namely long-distance caregivers. This also applies for their coping strategies, health literacy and use of health promotion measures [24,25].…”