Family caregiving for those who suffer from Alzheimer's disease is an important but understudied area in Italian nursing. Population ageing and the existing burden of care for family caregivers indicate that there will be enormous pressure on families in the future to provide adequate and culturally appropriate care. This study attempted to redress this situation by examining anxiety and depression among 34 female Italian Alzheimer's caregivers over a total of 816 caregiving days. A descriptive, repeated measures design was used, using three instruments to survey caregiving: a General Questionnaire about Caregiving, the Spielberg State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Findings indicated that caregivers suffered high levels of anxiety (76%) and depression (42%). Statistical analyses showed that the anxiety and depression scores were positively correlated with hours of care, physical and psychological illness scores, and negatively correlated with level of education and time for leisure activities. However, no significant correlations were found with the Mini Mental State Examination scores, demonstrating that the burden of care is large, irrespective of the extent of mental impairment. Implications of the findings suggest that support and assistance given to Italian caregivers might be inadequate, particularly with respect to respite services and educational support.

Statistically significant disciplinary differences in hand hygiene knowledge and self-reported practices were apparent among undergraduate Italian healthcare students. Further research is needed to determine the causative factors. The overall low scores on the knowledge items indicate that these students require further education on hand hygiene, particularly in relation to the use of alcohol-based hand rubs.

Objective The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is an evaluation tool to diagnose older adult's depression. This questionnaire was defined by Yesavage and Brink in 1982; it was designed expressly for the older person and defines his/her degree of satisfaction, quality of life, and feelings. The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-IT). Methods The Italian version of the Geriatric Depression Scale was administered to 119 people (79 people with a depression diagnosis and 40 healthy ones). We examined the following psychometric characteristics: internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity (factor structure). Results Cronbach's Alpha for the GDS-IT administered to the depressed sample was 0.84. Test-retest reliability was 0.91 and the concurrent validity was 0.83. The factorial analysis showed a structure of 5 factors, and the scale cut-off is between 10 and 11. Conclusion The GDS-IT proved to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for the evaluation of depression in an Italian population. In the present study, the GDS-IT showed good psychometric properties. Health professionals now have an assessment tool for the evaluation of depression symptoms in the Italian population.

Similarities and differences among Italian caregivers and those in other countries are discussed, and implications for Italian health professionals and directions for future research are addressed.

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