Empowering Family Care Partners to Optimize Delirium Care for Persons Living With Dementia

PURPOSE

To explore family care partners' (FCPs) common support needs, preferences, and caregiving priorities for persons with delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD) to inform intervention development.

METHOD

A descriptive qualitative study was performed, using semi-structured interviews with 12 FCPs from an assisted living community and integrated memory care clinic.

RESULTS

Findings reveal the importance of structured education, proactive caregiving strategies, and empathetic communication in improving care outcomes for individuals with DSD. FCPs emphasized the need for health care providers to prioritize their care recipients' baseline and preferences and provide mental health support for caregivers.

CONCLUSION

The study highlights the significant role FCPs play in DSD care and the urgent need for interventions that address their educational and emotional needs to improve patient and caregiver well-being. [Research in Gerontological Nursing, 18(3), 113-123.].

Realist Review: Understanding Effectiveness of Intervention Programs for Dementia Caregivers

PURPOSE

Caring for patients with dementia is a challenging issue entailing heavy responsibility. Many interventions for caregivers have been developed, but their effectiveness is not clear. This study aimed to examine how, why, and under what circumstances interventions for dementia caregivers affected their burden of caring.

METHODS

Authors used a realist review approach to explore the evidence for how different interventions reduce the burden of dementia caregivers. We completed the literature review about the burden of dementia caregivers and extracted the theoretical concepts to explain context-mechanism-outcome configuration why an intervention may be effective in some situations and not others. Six databases were searched for experimental or quasi-experimental studies conducted from 2008 to 2017. Of 1,225 screened studies, 10 studies were eligible for inclusion.

RESULTS

None of the studies included all the derived contexts while explaining in detail the mechanism of the intervention effectiveness. Among contexts, the variable of other family members requiring care was not included in all studies. Among the analyzed studies, no studies have applied repeated intervention. Most studies included only some variables of context and mechanism, and these variables did not directly explain the effectiveness of intervention. The effect of outcome variables was significant for each study, and the effects of research intervention and national services could not be separately described.

CONCLUSION

Authors conclude that Korean culture's emphasis on relationships with others increases the burden of care. In context, Confucian norms and traditional femininity of Korea were reflected in the core. It is necessary to check the homogeneity of participants and the design of intervention to verify the effectiveness of the outcome variable of psychological burden.