Theoretical formulations of stress and coping, family systems, crisis intervention, and loss and grief have inadequately explained how persons might grow and find meaning through their caregiving experiences. An existential theoretical framework guided the data interpretation in a qualitative study of 94 dementia family caregivers. Results suggest that an existential framework provides an alternative paradigm for understanding the caregiving experience.

This study examines home-based persons with dementia, their needs associated with activities of daily living (ADL), cognitive impairment, and disruptive behaviors, and the relationship of these needs to caregiver distress and burden. Findings suggest that selected disruptive behaviors were most distressing to caregivers, and that when disruptive behaviors occurred more frequently, caregivers were significantly more distressed with these behaviors and reported higher levels of burden. The frequency of cognitive impairment behaviors and level of ADL impairment were not significantly related to caregiver burden, but caregiver distress with these needs was significantly related to caregiver burden.

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