scholarly journals EXPERIENTIAL AVOIDANCE IN A SAMPLE OF DEMENTIA CAREGIVERS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S489-S489
Author(s):  
Amy M Houston ◽  
Elisabeth Harfmann ◽  
Amy Olzmann ◽  
Glenna Brewster ◽  
Hannah Ottmar
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Avoidance ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Cognitive Fusion ◽  
Dementia Caregivers ◽  
Caregiver Support ◽  
Financial Status ◽  
Dementia Caregiver ◽  
Male Caregivers ◽  
Changing Demographics ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Abstract Given the rapidly changing demographics, there will be an increasing number of individuals with dementia who will need significant support from informal caregivers. Providing care for an individual with dementia has been associated with negative outcomes in a number of domains including physical health, mental health, financial status and social functioning. There is a small but growing base of literature suggesting that fostering psychological flexibility, including acceptance, with dementia caregivers may be a helpful intervention. Experiential avoidance, which is the less adaptive alternative to acceptance, is the aversion from negative internal experiences including thoughts, feeling and physical sensations. Experiential avoidance has been found to be significantly related to depression and negative affect. The present study utilized online dementia caregiver support group samples (n = 158) to evaluate the relationship between experiential avoidance and general demographics, other aspects of psychological flexibility, and caregiver distress. Experiential avoidance was positively correlated with cognitive fusion (r(134) = .231, p < .01), caregiver burden (r(127) = .258, p < .01), and distress associated with dementia related behaviors (r(140) = .225, p < .01). Experiential avoidance was negatively correlated with engaged living (r(133) = -.244, p < .01), mindfulness (r(123) = -.187, p < .05), and self-rated health (r(138) = -.193, p < .05). Additionally, experiential avoidance was significantly higher for male caregivers (t(136)=2.462, p=.015) and those age 65 and over (t(134)=-2.421, p=.017). These findings support previous research that suggests experiential avoidance may be an important construct to target in future interventions with dementia caregivers.

“Care to Plan”: Delivering Personalized Recommendations to Support Caregivers of People Living with Dementia (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhee Cha ◽  
Colleen M. Peterson ◽  
Ashley N Millenbah ◽  
Katie Louwagie ◽  
Zachary G Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Care Recipient ◽  
Dementia Caregivers ◽  
Caregiver Support ◽  
Care Plans ◽  
Dementia Caregiver ◽  
Facilitators And Barriers ◽  
Additional Support

BACKGROUND Estimates suggest that 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021 and by 2060, that number could more than double to 13.8 million. As a result, public health officials anticipate a greater need for caregivers for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD), as well as support resources for both people living with dementia (PLWD) and their caregivers. Despite the growing need for dementia caregiver support services, there is a lack of consensus regarding how to tailor these services to best meet the heterogeneous needs of individual caregivers. To fill this gap, “Care To Plan” (CtP), an online tool for caregivers of PLWD, was developed to provide tailored support recommendations to dementia caregivers. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to formally explore the feasibility, acceptability and utility of CtP for 20 family members of PLWD within a health system over a one month time period using a mixed methods parallel convergent design. METHODS A moderately sized health system in the mid-Atlantic region was selected as the site for CtP implementation where 20 caregivers who were family members of PLWD were enrolled. The web-based CtP tool was used directly by caregivers and facilitated by a healthcare professional (i.e., a “senior care navigator”/SCN). Caregivers were given a 21-item review checklist to assess barriers and facilitators associated with reviewing CtP with a SCN. Following the 21-item review checklist, semi-structured telephone interviews, which included 18 open-ended questions, focused on the facilitators and barriers to CtP implementation and recommendations for future implementation. RESULTS Quantitative results suggested that 76.5% and 85.7% of caregivers agreed or strongly agreed that after using the tool they were able to find a service that would meet their needs and those of their care recipient, respectively. Qualitative analysis identified four themes regarding facilitators and barriers to implementation: 1) caregiver factors, 2) SCN factors, 3) CtP tool system factors, and 4) recommendations and resources factors. CONCLUSIONS Care to Plan was not only found to be feasible, but a valuable tool for caregivers seeking resources for themselves as well as their PLWD. Longer-term evaluation findings aim to generate results as to how CtP can be integrated into care plans for caregivers and how SCNs can provide additional support for caregivers for PLWD over an extended period of time.

scholarly journals GAMEPLAN4CARE: AN ONLINE TRANSLATION OF REACH II REFINED THROUGH EARLY STAKEHOLDER USABILITY TESTING

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S674-S675
Author(s):  
Jinmyoung Cho ◽  
Alan B Stevens ◽  
Thomas Birchfield ◽  
Sandhya Sanghi ◽  
Ashley Vernon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Usability Testing ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Dementia Caregivers ◽  
Caregiver Support ◽  
Online Platform ◽  
Intervention Delivery ◽  
Dementia Caregiver ◽  
Caregiver Health ◽  
Reach Ii

Abstract Despite a number of evidences on the implementation of multicomponent education and support programs to improve the lives of dementia caregivers, there is still a need to adapt these interventions to various implementation settings and preferences of a new generation of caregivers. In this study, we present the development and usability testing of a dementia caregiver support program, GamePlan4Care (GP4C), an online translation of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health II (REACH II) intervention. The goal of the GP4C is to create an online family caregiver support system that would facilitate delivery of an evidence-based skills-training and support for dementia caregivers with the potential of both scalability and sustainability. GP4C includes the full breadth of REACH II education and skill-building materials, delivered within an automated, online platform with integrated support from a Dementia Care Specialist via telephone/video conferencing. Dementia caregivers, community agency staff, and other experts are involved in usability testing to ensure acceptability of this new approach to intervention delivery. The software development is completed and usability testing is currently underway. The feasibility and success of this new modality of intervention delivery will be made possible by an innovative intervention design supported by appropriate technical and content elements. We will also present the strategies employed to adapt the intervention to an online platform capable of supporting caregiver self-directed exposure to therapeutic content, the results of usability testing with approximately 32 caregivers, and feedback from other external stakeholders on the feasibility of this approach.

scholarly journals The Going to Stay at Home program: combining dementia caregiver training and residential respite care

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 1697-1706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Gresham ◽  
Megan Heffernan ◽  
Henry Brodaty
Keyword(s):  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Respite Care ◽  
Behavioral Symptoms ◽  
Caregiver Training ◽  
Dementia Caregivers ◽  
Home Program ◽  
Caregiver Depression ◽  
Dementia Caregiver ◽  
And Function ◽  
At Home

ABSTRACTBackground:Caring for persons with dementia is stressful for family caregivers. Caregiver training programs and respite care can reduce this stress and help maintain persons with dementia living longer in the community. We evaluated a program that combines caregiver training with a residential respite stay.Methods:In total, 90 dyads of persons with dementia and their caregivers, in groups of 3–6 dyads, volunteered to participate in a five-day residential training program and were followed-up 6 and 12 months later. The primary outcome was caregiver depression; secondary outcomes were measures of caregiver burden, unmet needs, person with dementia behavioral symptoms, and the quality of life and function.Results:Caregiver depression and burden were unchanged, despite decreasing function in persons with dementia. Caregivers’ unmet needs and behavioral symptoms in persons with dementia decreased significantly. Compared to a group of persons with dementia admitted for routine residential respite care, there was a marked reduction in permanent placement over 12 months.Conclusions:The Going to Stay at Home Program is a feasible and practicable model with benefits for caregivers and persons with dementia. It may lead to delay in institutionalization and may be applicable to other chronic conditions.

scholarly journals SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN DEMENTIA CAREGIVER WELL-BEING

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S434-S434
Author(s):  
Chelsea Liu ◽  
Adrian Badana ◽  
Julia Burgdorf ◽  
Chanee D Fabius ◽  
William E Haley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Dementia Caregivers ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Dementia Caregiver ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Physical Outcomes

Abstract Studies comparing racial/ethnic differences on psychological and physical outcomes of dementia caregivers have often reported differences in well-being for minority groups compared to Whites. However, due to issues with enrolling minorities into studies, recruitment methods often differ for minority and White participants and may lead to biased comparisons. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine racial/ethnic differences in dementia caregiver outcomes and to determine whether any differences vary among studies with population-based samples compared to convenience samples. We systematically reviewed articles with primary data from PubMed, Google Scholar and PsycINFO, and included studies comparing either African American (AA) or Hispanic/Latino dementia caregivers to White caregivers on measures of psychological health (e.g. depression, anxiety, burden) and physical health (e.g. self-rated health, cardiovascular measures, stress biomarkers). Reviewers screened titles and abstracts, reviewed full texts and conducted risk-of-bias assessments. A total of 207 effects were extracted from 40 studies. Random-effects models showed that Hispanics/Latinos reported significantly lower levels of well-being than Whites (ps < .05) for both psychological outcomes (37 effects) and physical outcomes (15 effects), while AAs were not significantly different from Whites in either domain. No differences were observed for population-based studies (N=3; 23 effects) or convenience-sample studies (N=37; 184 effects). Although some previous studies with convenience samples found better psychological well-being in AA caregivers, that pattern was not confirmed in our meta-analysis. Additional analyses for the different indicators of well-being and the relationship of quality ratings to effect sizes will be discussed along with implications for future research.

How are Experiential Avoidance and Cognitive Fusion Associated with Alexithymia?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zekiye Celikbas ◽  
Sedat Batmaz ◽  
Kaasim Fatih Yavuz ◽  
Esma Akpinar Aslan ◽  
Nurgul Yesilyaprak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Avoidance ◽  
Cognitive Fusion
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document