Effects of attachment quality on caregiving of a parent with dementia

A triadic approach to health and dependence in aging adults: incongruence in perception

PURPOSE

Taking charge of dependent people is a major challenge. Numerous studies focus on the congruence of the dyadic perceptions of the actors. This study looks into the congruence of perceptions concerning dependence (i.e., physical and mental losses that prevent carrying out everyday tasks) and pathologies affecting older people within the triad: the aged person living at home, the informal caregiver, and the in-home professional caregiver.

METHODS

A face-to-face questionnaire examining dependence and pathologies was administered separately to the three actors of 58 triads. This database has been analyzed mainly with techniques of data mining (MCA and AHC).

RESULTS

The perception of pathologies and dependence are perceivably different depending on the actors. Within a same triad, perceptions of these two points-taken together or individually-turn out to be very dispersed. We bring to light three factors that structure 94% (with Benzécri's correction) of the congruence in perception within triads, and we propose a typology in four clusters of triads on this theme.

CONCLUSIONS

The congruence analyses of the triads showed that incongruence in cross-perceptions of older people, formal, and informal caregivers on pathologies and dependence is clearly structured. Four quite distinct clusters have emerged, which could be exploited in the framework of public policies on the management of dependency in the home setting, to effectively alleviate the incongruence in the triads.

Attachment and aged care: a systematic review of current research

Attachment theory is an important framework from which to examine familial aged care. Despite this, the role of attachment in later-life caregiving remains unclear. The current study presents a systematic review of papers within the last five years on attachment and various outcomes related to familial aged care. For the caregiver, attachment anxiety was associated with poorer mental health, and attachment insecurity with a more controlling manner of caregiving. The few studies conducted with care recipients found that attachment insecurity was associated with greater self-appraisals of dementia symptoms and a lower sense of security. Research continues to suffer from the use of inadequate assessments of individual differences into adult attachment.

Stress among Care Givers: The Impact of Nursing a Relative with Cancer

AIMS

The aim of the present study is to assess the level and areas of stress among care givers nursing their loved ones suffering from cancer.

SETTING AND DESIGN

An assessment of care givers' stress providing care to cancer patients at Cipla Palliative Care Center was conducted. The study involves data collection using a questionnaire and subsequent analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A close-ended questionnaire that had seven sections on different aspects of caregivers' stress was developed and administered to 137 participants and purpose of conducting the survey was explained to their understanding. Caregivers who were willing to participate were asked to read and/or explained the questions and requested to reply as per the scales given. Data was collected in the questionnaires and was quantitatively analyzed.

RESULTS

The study results showed that overall stress level among caregivers is 5.18 ± 0.26 (on a scale of 0-10); of the total, nearly 62% of caregivers were ready to ask for professional help from nurses, medical social workers and counselors to cope up with their stress.

CONCLUSION

Stress among caregivers ultimately affects quality of care that is being provided to the patient. This is also because they are unprepared to provide care, have inadequate knowledge about care giving along with financial burden, physical and emotional stress. Thus interventions are needed to help caregivers to strengthen their confidence in giving care and come out with better quality of care.