Caregiver burden is the stress which is perceived by caregivers due to the home care situation. The subjective burden is considered to be one of the most important predictors of negative outcomes from the home care situation.
From a scientific perspective, caregiver burden is a theoretical construct. The conceptual basis for the appraisal of the care situation is the Transactional Model of Lazarus and Folkman. [1] The subjective evaluation of the care situation (stressor) by the caregivers is critical for the development and maintenance of subjective burden.
According to the Transactional Model, people deal with stressful situations by appraisals of stressor and resources. The primary appraisal deals with the individual meaning of the specific stressor, which is the care situation in this case. The secondary appraisal analyzes the own abilities and resources to cope with that situation. On this basis, the individual coping efforts are used to deal with the stressful situation. As per Carver, [2] these efforts can focus on problem management or emotional regulation. Dysfunctional strategies are possible, too. Studies [3] [4] found that a high caregiver burden often comes along with dysfunctional strategies what means activities which don’t solve the problem but worsen it (e.g. self-criticism, substance abuse).
The (dis)balance between burden/vulnerabilities and resources of the caregiver determines the consequences of a care situation. [5] Home care can result in positive as well as negative experiences.
Regardless of the caregiver burden, relatives can experience benefits - positive consequences - of the home care situation. [6] This may be the feeling of being needed or the knowledge that they have acquired new skills etc. [7]
Caregiver burden comes out when the caregiver perceives the home care situation as a negative experience. Caregivers are typically not trained. Caring is a serious challenge for them. An intensive adaptation to the care situation is necessary. [5]
The caregiver burden can be based on a variety of aspects of the care situation (e.g. lack of recovery time, challenging behavior of the care requiring person, limitation of social activities and contacts). Studies [8] [9] [10] showed that four aspects are particularly burdensome:
Negative outcomes are often not determined by the specifics of the caregiving situation itself, but by the reaction and response of the caregiver. The term “caregiver burden” refers to the high level of stress that some caregivers may feel in response to the situation. A study that investigated a variety of factors and their association with caregiver burden in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), found that it was more subjective factors (i.e. the caregiver’s quality of life and psychological distress), rather than objective ones (such as the caring situation or the condition of the patient) that were associated to burden. [11] Because the caregiver burden may be felt strongly by one person and not at all by another, regardless of the caregiving situation, it is considered to be subjective and it may be called the “subjective burden”. The subjective burden is considered to be one of the most important predictors of negative outcomes from the home care situation. [5]
Pinquart and Sörensen (2003) [12] researched the health of caregivers compared to the health of non-caregiving relatives. The researchers found that while caregivers are generally only slightly less physically healthy than non-caregiving relatives, they reported depressive symptoms significantly more often, pointing to a negative effect on their mental health.This meta-analysis did not consider the impact of subjective burden. In addition, a recent published paper showed a high frequency of depression and anxiety levels in caregivers of adult people with epilepsy. [13] In another extensive meta-analysis [14] Pinquart and Sörensen could show that the subjective burden is an important predictor of the health of carers.
Studies [15] [16] found an increased mortality of caregiving spouses. This effect was only found for spouses who felt burdened due to the care situation. Thus, it is not the home care per se that is a risk but the subjective burden.
Without consideration of the caregiver burden, the mortality of caregivers is even slightly reduced compared to non-caregivers. [17] [18] [19]
People who experience caregiver burden can display a wide range of behaviors towards the person in need of care, from loving devotion to abusive behavior (which can manifest as neglect and/or mistreatment). The most common form of abusive behavior is verbal aggression, [20] mainly due to challenging behaviour of the person in need of care. [21] Researchers found that people experiencing caregiver burden are more likely to display abusive behavior and other negative caring styles toward the individuals they care for than those who are not experiencing caregiver burden. [21] [22] [23]
The caregiver burden often influences the caregiver's decision to eventually institutionalize (or, "put someone in a nursing home"). Caregiver burden is particularly associated with the care of people with dementia, meaning that the likelihood of institutionalization is especially heightened in those experiencing caregiver burden who care for people suffering from dementia. [24] In the care of people with dementia, there is consistent evidence: The higher the caregiver burden, the more likely is the institutionalization. [25] [26] [27] [28]
The assessment of caregiver burden enables to judge the situation of the caregiver. The correct measurement of subjective burden is necessary to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of family interventions.
The care situation is an important, highly specific stressor which should be treated with specific interventions. A measurement with general stress-scales is therefore not useful, because in this case the score represents all kind of stress, indiscriminately of its origin. Valid, economic and internationally standardized measurement tools for the specific stressful situation of family caregivers are therefore inevitable.
In Anglo-American countries, a number of burden scales have been developed; e.g. the Burden Interview, [29] the Caregiver Strain Index [30] and the Cost of Care Index. [31] The Burden Scale for Family Caregivers, which has been developed in Germany, is now available in 20 languages.
The BSFC exists in a detailed version with 28 items, and in a short, more efficient[ clarification needed ] version (BSFC-s) with ten items.
Compared to other burden scales, the BSFC has two benefits. There is a long and a short version, both validated in separate studies. Furthermore, both versions are free in 20 languages, including an introduction on evaluation and interpretation.
A first, reliable and valid version of the German version was published in 1993. [32] In 2001, the validity was tested and confirmed to a large sample of both dementia and for other causes of care requirement again. [33] In 2003, the English version has been validated. [34] In 2014, the validation study for the short version [35] and an extended validation of the original version [36] have been published.
The BSFC consists of 28 items in the detailed or 10 items in the short version. The caregivers have to rate these items on a four-point scale from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”.
An evaluation is possible both on item level and on score level. A differentiated detection of the critical aspects of home care is possible with the analysis on item level. The score measures the total burden. This is an important factor to judge the caregiver's situation.
The CDIs deal with 9 main issues of caregivers based on the topical analysis of caregivers' social media communication. A longitudinal analysis of 100 dyads (caregiver vs person with Alzheimer disease) revealed the following structure of issues. [37]
Daily issue category | Main issues related to the category |
---|---|
Change of a health state of the person with disease | Entering a new stage of the disease and coping with this new situation; associated emotions of caregivers. Patients (usually parents in the past) are becoming to be like children and children like parents. Description of a new specific health issue of the patient: physical (dry skin, rash, bedsores) and mental ones (agitation, frustration, murmuring, complaining teeth grinding, walking back and forth in the house). |
Physical recognition of close relatives | Temporary or total non-recognition of a close person (life partner and children), forgetting the name. Comments on disappointment and other emotions associated. Fear of caregivers (often children) that they will not be recognized. |
Exhaustion, feeling of giving up, guilt | Effects of caregiving activity performed 24/7 with no breaks, health issues of caregivers. Potential caregivers' hostility towards the patient. Caregivers' impossibility of having their own "my time". Loneliness. Guilt coming from not sufficient/successful work of caregivers (patient's health state is not getting better). |
Fear of the future | What the situation will look like in the future if the current situation is hard? Losing personal life and time (relationships, hobbies, and friends) because of caregiving and fear of the future. Concerns about the future health state of the person with the disease. |
Violent behavior towards to the caregiver | Psychical (insults, cursing, shouting) and physical violence (hitting, throwing objects) of the person with the disease. The person is rude when the caregiver wants to leave. Unexpected turns of a person’s behavior. |
Caregiver’s success and positive feelings | Person’s thanks and love expression towards the caregivers. Finding pleasure in nature of caregiving work. Pleasure from the gifts received from the person with AD. |
Financial issues | Absence/presence of medical/financial POA and/or patient's will, communication between the person with AD and family about financial affairs, costs of health facilities and what is/is not covered by state medical care, paying of home health providers/caregivers, future concerns on financial matters. Accusations from patients/relatives about misuse of money; quarrel about money. Difficult financial family situations, tips on methods of fundraising (for example crowdfunding), and proposals on how to change a health insurance system. |
Group support | Appreciation for group membership and support; opportunity to express emotions; get advice; resolve the situation; communicate with people who have the same problem, searching for someone in the group physically living nearby. |
Relationship with the health-services providers | Certified nurse assistance (CNA) quality assessment, patient's rejection of external services, complaints about hospital services and its communication about the patient's health state. |
Due to the high importance of the caregiver burden with regard to the care giving process, it is necessary to develop interventions to reduce this burden and to examine their[ clarification needed ] effectiveness. Successful interventions should be available to as many caregivers as possible. "The usefulness of an intervention is the multiplication of effectiveness and usage." (Elmar Gräßel) [5] It is therefore necessary both to develop interventions and to improve and to find ways to strengthen the awareness and use of these interventions.
Unburdening interventions for caregivers should consider four central aspects: [38]
There are different supporting services, e.g. caregiver counselling, professional training, self-help groups, ambulant nursing services or technical help like intelligent light[ clarification needed ] to preserve the autonomy of the person in need of care. [39]
Another effective relief is the support given to caregivers by family members, friends and acquaintances. They provide emotional and instrumental support and are an important source to access supporting services. [40]
A 2021 Cochrane review found that remotely delivered interventions including support, training and information may reduce the burden for the informal caregiver and improve their depressive symptoms. [41] However, there is no certain evidence that they improve health-related quality of life. The findings are based on moderate certainty evidence from 26 studies.
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform everyday activities. This typically involves problems with memory, thinking, behavior, and motor control. Aside from memory impairment and a disruption in thought patterns, the most common symptoms of dementia include emotional problems, difficulties with language, and decreased motivation. The symptoms may be described as occurring in a continuum over several stages. Dementia ultimately has a significant effect on the individual, their caregivers, and their social relationships in general. A diagnosis of dementia requires the observation of a change from a person's usual mental functioning and a greater cognitive decline than might be caused by the normal aging process.
Delirium is a specific state of acute confusion attributable to the direct physiological consequence of a medical condition, effects of a psychoactive substance, or multiple causes, which usually develops over the course of hours to days. As a syndrome, delirium presents with disturbances in attention, awareness, and higher-order cognition. People with delirium may experience other neuropsychiatric disturbances, including changes in psychomotor activity, disrupted sleep-wake cycle, emotional disturbances, disturbances of consciousness, or, altered state of consciousness, as well as perceptual disturbances, although these features are not required for diagnosis.
Palliative care is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Within the published literature, many definitions of palliative care exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes palliative care as "an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain, illnesses including other problems whether physical, psychosocial, and spiritual". In the past, palliative care was a disease specific approach, but today the WHO takes a broader patient-centered approach that suggests that the principles of palliative care should be applied as early as possible to any chronic and ultimately fatal illness. This shift was important because if a disease-oriented approach is followed, the needs and preferences of the patient are not fully met and aspects of care, such as pain, quality of life, and social support, as well as spiritual and emotional needs, fail to be addressed. Rather, a patient-centered model prioritizes relief of suffering and tailors care to increase the quality of life for terminally ill patients.
Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of the elderly. The term geriatrics originates from the Greek γέρων geron meaning "old man", and ιατρός iatros meaning "healer". It aims to promote health by preventing, diagnosing and treating disease in older adults. There is no defined age at which patients may be under the care of a geriatrician, or geriatric physician, a physician who specializes in the care of older people. Rather, this decision is guided by individual patient need and the caregiving structures available to them. This care may benefit those who are managing multiple chronic conditions or experiencing significant age-related complications that threaten quality of daily life. Geriatric care may be indicated if caregiving responsibilities become increasingly stressful or medically complex for family and caregivers to manage independently.
Elder abuse is a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person. This definition has been adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) from a definition put forward by Hourglass in the UK. Laws protecting the elderly from abuse are similar to and related to laws protecting dependent adults from abuse.
Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced heart disease than for injury. In popular use, it indicates a disease that will progress until death with near absolute certainty, regardless of treatment. A patient who has such an illness may be referred to as a terminal patient, terminally ill or simply as being terminal. There is no standardized life expectancy for a patient to be considered terminal, although it is generally months or less. Life expectancy for terminal patients is a rough estimate given by the physician based on previous data and does not always reflect true longevity. An illness which is lifelong but not fatal is a chronic condition.
Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is described in clinical literature as a severe disorder that can affect children, although these issues do occasionally persist into adulthood. RAD is characterized by markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate ways of relating socially in most contexts. It can take the form of a persistent failure to initiate or respond to most social interactions in a developmentally appropriate way—known as the "inhibited form". In the DSM-5, the "disinhibited form" is considered a separate diagnosis named "disinhibited attachment disorder".
Caring in intimate relationships is the practice of providing care and support to an intimate relationship partner. Caregiving behaviours are aimed at reducing the partner's distress and supporting their coping efforts in situations of either threat or challenge. Caregiving may include emotional support and/or instrumental support. Effective caregiving behaviour enhances the care-recipient's psychological well-being, as well as the quality of the relationship between the caregiver and the care-recipient. However, certain suboptimal caregiving strategies may be either ineffective or even detrimental to coping.
A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, and who may have no specific professional training, are often described as informal caregivers. Caregivers most commonly assist with impairments related to old age, disability, a disease, or a mental disorder.
Psychoeducation is an evidence-based therapeutic intervention for patients and their loved ones that provides information and support to better understand and cope with illness. Psychoeducation is most often associated with serious mental illness, including dementia, schizophrenia, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, bipolar and personality disorders. The term has also been used for programs that address physical illnesses, such as cancer.
As populations age, caring for people with dementia has become more common. Elderly caregiving may consist of formal care and informal care. Formal care involves the services of community and medical partners, while informal care involves the support of family, friends, and local communities. In most mild-to-medium cases of dementia, the caregiver is a spouse or an adult child. Over a period of time, more professional care in the form of nursing and other supportive care may be required medically, whether at home or in a long-term care facility. There is evidence to show that case management can improve care for individuals with dementia and the experience of their caregivers. Furthermore, case management may reduce overall costs and institutional care in the medium term. Millions of people living in the United States take care of a friend or family member with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
Validation therapy was developed by Naomi Feil for older people with cognitive impairments and dementia. Feil's own approach classifies individuals with cognitive impairment as having one of four stages in a continuum of dementia. These stages are:
Family caregivers are "relatives, friends, or neighbors who provide assistance related to an underlying physical or mental disability for at-home care delivery and assist in the activities of daily living (ADLs) who are unpaid and have no formal training to provide those services."
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens, and is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the average life expectancy following diagnosis is three to twelve years.
Sundowning, or sundown syndrome, is a neurological phenomenon associated with increased confusion and restlessness in people with delirium or some form of dementia. It is most commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease but is also found in those with other forms of dementia. The term sundowning was coined by nurse Lois K. Evans in 1987 due to the timing of the person's increased confusion beginning in the late afternoon and early evening. For people with sundown syndrome, a multitude of behavioral problems begin to occur and are associated with long-term adverse outcomes. Sundowning seems to occur more frequently during the middle stages of Alzheimer's disease and mixed dementia and seems to subside with the progression of the person's dementia. People are generally able to understand that this behavioral pattern is abnormal. Research shows that 20–45% of people with Alzheimer's will experience some variation of sundowning confusion. However, despite lack of an official diagnosis of sundown syndrome in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), there is currently a wide range of reported prevalence.
Wandering occurs when a person with dementia roams around and becomes lost or confused about their location. It is a common behavior that can cause great risk for the person, and is often the major priority for caregivers. It is estimated to be the most common form of disruption from people with dementia within institutions. Although it occurs in several types of dementia, wandering is especially common in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). People with dementia often wander because they are stressed, looking for someone or something, attending to basic needs, engaging in past routines, or with visual-spatial problems. Other times, they may wander without aim at all.
Caregiver syndrome or caregiver stress is a condition that strongly manifests exhaustion, anger, rage, or guilt resulting from unrelieved caring for a chronically ill patient. This condition is not listed in the United States' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, although the term is often used by many healthcare professionals in that country. The equivalent used in many other countries, the ICD-11, does include the condition.
An informal or primary caregiver is an individual in a cancer patient's life that provides unpaid assistance and cancer-related care. Caregiving is defined as the processing of assiting someone who can't care for themselves, which includes physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Due to the typically late onset of cancer, caregivers are often the spouses and/or children of patients, but may also be parents, other family members, or close friends. Taking care of family members at home is a complicated experience. The relationships involved constantly shift and change, in expected and unexpected ways. The expected or expected changes can negatively affect physical health, emotions, social life, and spiritual well-being of the caregiver. Informal caregivers are a major form of support for the cancer patient because they provide most care outside of the hospital environment. This support includes:
Caregiving by country is the regional variation of caregiving practices as distinguished among countries.
Jiska Cohen-Mansfield is the Igor Orenstein Chair for the Study of Geriatrics at Tel Aviv University Medical School and a professor at the Department of Health Promotion at the School of Public Health in the Sackler Medical Faculty at Tel Aviv University. She is the director of the Minerva Center for Interdisciplinary Study of End of Life at Tel-Aviv University.
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