A Chinese version of the Meaning in Caregiving Scale: an assessment of its reliability and validity

"Am I entitled to take a break in caregiving?": Perceptions of leisure activities of family caregivers of loved ones with dementia in China

Leisure activities are essential for family caregivers of loved ones with dementia living in the community, yet these caregivers tend not to engage in them, especially in China, wherein it may have a negative impact on their physical and psychological health. To date, limited knowledge exists regarding underlying reasons that deter these family caregivers from doing leisure activities. This study aims to explore perceptions of family caregivers of people living with dementia and their engagement in leisure activities. A qualitative descriptive research design was used with semi-structured, face-to-face, individual in-depth interviews. The data were collected in Shijiazhuang, China between October and November 2019. Content analysis was used to develop categories. Results of 20 family caregivers (5 men and 15 women, mean age = 55.6±12.7) reported their perceptions under four main categories: (i) "the condition of leisure life," (ii) "needs for leisure activities," (iii) "reasons for the reluctance to do leisure activities," and (iv) "motivations supporting the implementation of leisure activities." In addition to the heavy caregiving workload and lack of support, traditional Chinese beliefs including filial commitment and "fatalistic voluntarism" were the reasons that prevented Chinese family caregivers of people living with dementia from doing leisure activities. However, engaging their loved ones in leisure activities, like doing exercise together, could motivate family caregivers themselves to participate in leisure activities. These findings encourage healthcare professionals to consider the influence of culture on family caregivers' engagement in leisure activities which is one of the ways to reduce stress. Family caregivers may benefit from the leisure activities by learning how to better cope with and balance caregiving tasks with their leisure pursuits in the community.

Perceptions on technology for volunteer respite care for bedridden elders in Chile

PURPOSE

 Informal caregivers of bedridden elders need a respite. One form of obtaining a respite is through volunteers who are contacted by means of information and communication technology (ICT).

METHOD

 A qualitative study was carried out in a low-income district in Santiago, Chile, to learn about how caregivers of bedridden elders perceive the possibility of using ICT to access this respite. In-depth interviews were carried out and transcribed verbatim, then analysed using open coding. Results: The results reveal that caregivers are willing to receive a volunteer in their home and use ICT to communicate with them, although a discrepancy exists between the use of devices connected to the Internet and feature phones. Conclusion: This study concludes that informal caregivers of bedridden elders have a favourable disposition towards accessing a respite system by means of ICT based on a peer-to-peer economy.

What predicts whether caregivers of people with dementia find meaning in their role?

BACKGROUND

Informal dementia caregiving has traditionally been perceived as an extremely stressful process; however, more recent research has started to focus on the positive aspects of providing care. Studies indicate that caregivers who derive something positive out of caregiving have better well-being. However, there has been little exploration of the factors linked to caregivers identifying positive aspects of providing care. The aim of the current study was to explore the predictors of finding meaning in caregiving.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study in which the respondents were 447 caregivers of people with dementia who were in receipt of a specialist nursing service. The questionnaire contained measures of meaning, relationship quality, caregivers' motivations to provide care, role captivity and caregiving competence.

RESULTS

Correlational analyses showed that higher meaning was associated with being a spousal caregiver, providing greater hours of care, higher religiosity, a better pre-caregiving and current relationship quality, higher competence, lower role captivity, higher intrinsic motivations and higher extrinsic motivations. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that variance in finding meaning was significantly predicted by high religiosity, high competence, high intrinsic motivations and low role captivity.

CONCLUSION

From these findings, it is recommended that interventions should help caregivers focus on positive aspects of providing care and enhance their feelings of competence.

The experiences of carers in Taiwanese culture who have long-term schizophrenia in their families: a phenomenological study

Schizophrenia is a severe illness with little hope of recovery and requires long-term care. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of carers who live with someone with long-term schizophrenia, within the cultural context of Taiwan. The study was conducted in a community setting in central Taiwan. A qualitative phenomenological approach was used to explore the experiences of carers. Purposive sampling was used by selecting the carers who were close relatives of the clients, had lived with the clients for at least 1 year and bore most of the responsibilities. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect the data and narratives were analysed using Colaizzi's (1978) seven-step method. Data saturation was achieved after interviewing 10 carers. Three themes and eight sub-themes were identified: burdens of caring (helping clients' illness, lack of professional support and family conflicts), emotional burdens (sadness, worry and fear) and strategies of coping (cognitive and religious coping strategies). Our study supported the importance for nurses to understand the cultural aspects of mental illness, particularly the widespread cultural beliefs and patterns of help seeking behaviours, in order to provide culturally sensitive health care.