Involvement in self‐care and psychological well‐being of Spanish family caregivers of relatives with dementia

Abstract

Our society has to address the issue of taking care of a large number of dependent individuals who are defined as 'people who, for reasons linked to the lack or loss of physical, mental or intellectual capacity, need assistance or important help in the realisation of activities of daily life' (MATS, 2005).Although this care can be given by friends and neighbours, it is the family system that provides it most frequently (86% of cases), and in more than half of homes, it is provided by one person only (López & Crespo, 2008). The provision of this continuing care of a dependent person, especially if they have dementia, is a situation which generates distress (Schulz & Martire, 2004), whose impact seems to be related more to the assessment made of the situation by the caregiver themselves, and to the personal resources available to manage it, than to the characteristics of the situation itself (López & Crespo, 2007). This distress, together with the high emotional burden involved in continuous care-giving, gives rise to negative consequences in several ways.From the social point of view, the provision of continuous care causes an increase in isolation, a worsening financial situation (Rodríguez et al., 2000) and a greater need for the use of medical services (Draper, Poulos, Cole, Poulos, & Ehrlich, 1992). Furthermore, continuous care also leads to a potential neglect of

Cancer Hospice Caregivers' Self-care Behaviors

“…24 Similar to findings in other cancer and noncancer caregiving populations, our findings supported the association between mental health and self-care. 5,11,12,25 This is important as cancer and hospice caregiving is associated with great emotional distress, 26,27 and research suggests poorer mental health predicts later caregiving burden regardless of the time spent in caregiving. 28,29 Burden is also highly subjective, with nonlinear associations with caregiving intensity.…”