Baseline Resilience and Posttraumatic Symptoms in Dyads of Neurocritical Patients and Their Informal Caregivers: A Prospective Dyadic Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Admission to a neuroscience intensive care unit (Neuro-ICU) is sudden and often traumatic for both patients and their informal caregivers. No prior studies have assessed prospectively risk and resiliency factors for chronic posttraumatic symptoms, as well as the potential interdependence between patients' and caregivers' symptoms over time. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of baseline resiliency factors on symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) longitudinally in dyads of patients admitted to the Neuro-ICU and their primary family caregivers. METHODS: We recruited dyads (M = 108) of patients admitted to the Neuro-ICU (total N = 102) and their family caregivers (total N = 103). Dyads completed self-report assessments of PTS and resiliency factors (mindfulness and coping) at baseline in the Neuro-ICU. PTS was measured again at 3- and 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: Clinically significant PTS symptoms were high at baseline in both patients (20%) and caregivers (16%) and remained high through 6 months (25% in patients; 14% in caregivers). Actor-partner interdependence modeling demonstrated that severity of PTS symptoms was predictive of PTS symptoms at subsequent time points (P < 0.001). High baseline mindfulness and coping predicted less severe PTS symptoms in patients and caregivers (P < 0.001) at all time points. Own degree of PTS symptoms at 3 months predicted worse PTS symptoms in one's partner at 6 months, for both patients and caregivers (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the need to prioritize assessment and treatment of PTS in Neuro-ICU patients and their informal caregivers through a dyadic approach.

Insomnia among Cancer Caregivers: A Proposal for Tailored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Caregivers are relatives, friends, or partners who have a significant relationship with and provide assistance (i.e., physical, emotional) to a patient with often life-threatening, serious illnesses. Between 40 and 76 percent of caregivers for people with cancer experience sleep disturbance. This is thought to be due, in part, to the unique responsibilities, stressors, and compensatory behaviors endemic to caregiving that serve as precipitating and perpetuating factors of insomnia. Sleep disturbances are associated with significant alterations in one's mental and physical health. Once chronic, insomnia does not remit naturally. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is well-suited to address the multifaceted contributing factors unique to caregivers' sleep disturbance, yet only one intervention has tested a CBT-I informed intervention among cancer caregivers. Toward the goal of developing effective, tailored treatments for insomnia in caregivers, we address the distinct presentation of insomnia among cancer caregivers and describe key modifications to standard CBT-I that address these specific needs and enhance sensitivity and feasibility, modeled in a demonstrative case vignette. Future research must seek to provide a wide range of effective treatment options for this population, including internet-based, dyadic, and alternative integrative medicine treatments. Applicability of key modifications for caregivers of patients with other chronic illnesses is discussed. Establishing empirically-supported interventions for insomnia among cancer caregivers has the potential to enhance their quality of life and care provided, lead to improved bereavement outcomes, and attenuate the notable mental and physical health disparities present in this vulnerable population.

Mindfulness and Coping Are Inversely Related to Psychiatric Symptoms in Patients and Informal Caregivers in the Neuroscience ICU: Implications for Clinical Care.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the correlation of psychosocial resiliency factors (mindfulness and coping) with symptoms of posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depression in patients recently admitted to the neuroscience ICU and their primary informal caregivers. DESIGN: A descriptive, cross-sectional correlational study. SETTING: Neuroscience ICU in a major medical center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 78 dyads of patients (total n = 81) and their primary caregivers (total n = 92) from June to December 2015. Study enrollment occurred within the first 2 weeks of patient admission to the neuroscience ICU. INTERVENTION: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Dyads completed self-report measures of mindfulness (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised), coping (Measure of Coping Status-A), posttraumatic stress (Posttraumatic Checklist-Specific Stressor), anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-A), and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-D). Rates of clinically significant posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were high and comparable between patient and caregiver samples. Own psychological resilience factors and psychiatric symptoms were strongly correlated for both patients and caregivers. Depressive symptoms were interdependent between patients and their caregivers, and one's own mindfulness was independently related to one's partner's depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of clinically significant psychiatric symptoms were high, equally prevalent in patients and caregivers, and interdependent between patients and their caregivers. For both patients and caregivers, psychological resiliency factors were associated with both self and partner psychiatric symptoms. Findings suggest that attending to the psychiatric health of both patients and caregivers in the neuroscience ICU is a priority and that patients and their caregivers must be considered together in a system to fully address either individual's psychiatric symptoms.

Psychosocial resiliency is associated with lower emotional distress among dyads of patients and their informal caregivers in the neuroscience intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study is to examine the associations of patients' and their informal caregivers' psychosocial resiliency factors with their own and their partners' emotion domains (distress, anxiety, depression, and anger) after admission to the neuroscience intensive care unit (Neuro-ICU). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-three dyads of patients (total n = 87) and their informal caregivers (total n = 99) participated in this observational, cross-sectional study by self-reporting demographics and measures of resiliency factors (mindfulness [Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale Revised], coping [Measure of Coping Status-A], intimate bond [Intimate Bond Measure], self-efficacy [patients: General Self-Efficacy Scale; caregivers: Revised Caregiver Self-Efficacy Scale]) and emotion domains (Emotion Thermometers) within 2 weeks of Neuro-ICU admission. RESULTS: There were no differences between patients' and caregivers' levels of psychosocial resiliency, distress, or anxiety. Patients reported greater depression and anger relative to their caregivers. Overall, roughly half of patients (50.6%) and caregivers (42.4%) reported clinically significant emotional distress. Patients' and caregivers' own psychosocial resiliency factors were associated with their own, but not their partner's, emotion domains. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of high distress among both patients and caregivers at admission emphasize the importance of attending to the mental health of both patients and caregivers in the Neuro-ICU. As modifiable psychosocial resiliency factors were associated with emotion domains for both patients and caregivers, interventions to enhance these factors may ameliorate emotional distress among these vulnerable populations.

Quality of life of family caregivers 8 years after a relative's cancer diagnosis: follow-up of the National Quality of Life Survey for Caregivers.

BACKGROUND: The long-term impact of cancer caregiving on the family caregivers' quality of life (QOL) is currently not known. This study aimed (a) to characterize family caregivers of cancer survivors at 8 years post-diagnosis in terms of multidimensional aspects of QOL and (b) to identify demographic and early caregiving experience characteristics that may play significant roles in predicting the caregivers' longer-term QOL. METHODS: A total of 1087 caregivers participated in the 8-year follow-up National Quality of Life Survey for Caregivers. Demographics and early caregiving experiences were measured 2 years post-diagnosis of their relative's cancer. Multidimensional aspects of QOL were assessed, including mental and physical health, psychological adjustment, and spirituality at both 2-year and 8-year post-diagnosis. RESULTS: Approximately 90% of family caregivers ceased the caregiver role by 8 years. One-fourth of them were due to bereavement. Caregivers' demographic and early caregiving characteristics were significantly associated with QOL. In addition, being bereaved by the 8-year mark predicted poorer mental health and greater psychological distress independent of contributions of demographic and early caregiving characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provided the first evidence that 8 years after the initial cancer diagnosis in the family, family members who became bereaved suffer from poorer mental health and greater psychological distress. Findings have theoretical implications for better understanding bereavement to cancer and practical implications for developing integrative programs to improve QOL among family members in the various phases of caregivership.