Relatives of the Impaired Elderly: Correlates of Feelings of Burden

Predictors of sense of competence in caregivers of demented persons

“…Demented persons are usually supported by an informal network consisting of among others family and friends. In existing research, actual support from the informal social network has Competence in caregivers 43 been found to diminish caregiver burden [1,20], or to have no effect on the outcomes for caregivers [5,18,21]. Perceived support, as experienced by the caregiver, was found to have a positive effect on the caregiver in two studies where no effects of potential or actual support were found [5,13].…”

“…Studies of the effects of severity of dementia on the outcomes of the caregiving process for the caregiver have given inconsistent results. Some studies have reported that outcomes for caregivers were more negative when the cognitive status of the demented person was lower [12,13], although Miller et aL [14] found the opposite; in other studies no direct association was found [1,3,5,15]. Deimling and Bass [15] reported an indirect relationship mediated by disruptive behaviour of the demented person.…”

“…In most studies behavioural problems of demented persons (as reported by the caregiver) have been found to be related to higher caregiver burden or stress [2,3,13,15,18]. However, in other studies, behavioural problems were found to be positively associated with caregiver morale [16], or to have no relationship with caregiver outcomes [1]. The effects of particular domains of behavioural disturbance on specific domains of caregiver burden have also been studied.…”

“…In the existing research, a variety of concepts have been used to denote the outcome of the caregiving process for the caregiver. Current conceptualizations refer to consequences of the demented person's incapabilities, such as burden [1][2][3] and impact [4], or refer to consequences of the caregiver's capability, such as morale [5] and competence [6]. In their operationalizations all of these studies refer to the *Author for correspondence.…”

A systematic review of instruments assessing dimensions of distress among caregivers of adult and pediatric cancer patients

“…These tools were initially developed for other diseases or for patients, and were then eventually found to be applicable for caregivers as well. Some of these tools included the Zarit Burden Interview, developed for caregivers of dementia patients (Zarit et al, 1980); the Distress Thermometer, initially utilized with prostate cancer patients (Roth et al, 1998); and the Family Relationships Index, initially used in cancer patients and was part of the Family Environment Scale (Edwards & Clarke, 2005). Although not meeting the inclusion criteria for our review, these tools should not be neglected and are particularly valuable in detecting distress for both caregivers and patients with different disease processes.…”