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INTRODUCTION: Mild cognitive impairment remains substantially underdiagnosed, especially in disadvantaged populations. Failure to diagnose deprives patients and families of the opportunity to treat reversible causes, make necessary life and lifestyle changes and receive disease-modifying treatments if caused by Alzheimer's disease. Primary care, as the entry point for most, plays a critical role in improving detection rates. METHODS: We convened a Work Group of national experts to develop consensus recommendations for policymakers and third-party payers on ways to increase the use of brief cognitive assessments (BCAs) in primary care. RESULTS: The group recommended three strategies to promote routine use of BCAs: providing primary care clinicians with suitable assessment tools; integrating BCAs into routine workflows; and crafting payment policies to encourage adoption of BCAs. DISSCUSSION: Sweeping changes and actions of multiple stakeholders are necessary to improve detection rates of mild cognitive impairment so that patients and families may benefit from timely interventions.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease , Cognitive Dysfunction , Humans , Cognitive Dysfunction/diagnosis , Alzheimer Disease/diagnosis , Life Style , Cognition , Primary Health CareABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although older adults living with dementia (OLWD) are at high risk for falls, few strategies that effectively reduce falls among OLWD have been identified. Dementia care partners (hereinafter referred to as "care partners") may have a critical role in fall risk management (FRM). However, little is known about the ways care partners behave that may be relevant to FRM and how to effectively engage them in FRM. METHODS: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 primary care partners (age: 48-87; 79% women; 50% spouses/partners; 64% completed college; 21% people of colour) of community-dwelling OLWD to examine their FRM behaviours, and their observations of behaviours adopted by other care partners who were secondary in the caring role. RESULTS: The analysis of interview data suggested a novel behavioural framework that consisted of eight domains of FRM behaviours adopted across four stages. The domains of FRM behaviours were 1. functional mobility assistance, 2. assessing and addressing health conditions, 3. health promotion support, 4. safety supervision, 5. modification of the physical environment, 6. receiving, seeking, and coordinating care, 7. learning, and 8. self-adjustment. Four stages of FRM included 1. supporting before dementia onset, 2. preventing falls, 3. preparing to respond to falls, and 4. responding to falls. FRM behaviours varied by the care partners' caring responsibilities. Primary care partners engaged in behaviours from all eight behavioural domains; they often provided functional mobility assistance, safety supervision, and modification of the physical environment for managing fall risk. They also adopted behaviours of assessing and addressing health conditions, health promotion support, and receiving, seeking and coordinating care without realizing their relevance to FRM. Secondary care partners were reported to assist in health promotion support, safety supervision, modification of the physical environment, and receiving, seeking, and coordinating care. CONCLUSIONS: The multi-domain and multi-stage framework derived from this study can inform the development of tools and interventions to effectively engage care partners in managing fall risk for community-dwelling OLWD.
Subject(s)
Caregivers , Dementia , Humans , Female , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Male , Independent Living , Risk Management , Dementia/therapyABSTRACT
Redesigning the healthcare workforce to meet the needs of the growing population of persons living with dementia (PLWD), most of whom reside in the community and receive care from primary care providers, is a national priority. Yet, the shortage of adequately trained providers is raising concerns that the primary care system is not equipped to care for PLWD. The growing nurse practitioner (NP) workforce could bridge this gap. In this review, the authors synthesized the existing evidence from fourteen studies on the utilization of NPs to care for PLWD in primary care. Although the authors found that most NPs were engaged in co-management roles, emerging evidence suggests that NPs also serve as primary care providers for PLWD. Findings describe the impact of NP care on the health system, PLWD, and caregiver outcomes. The authors conclude that the optimal utilization of NPs can increase the capacity of delivering dementia-capable primary care.
Subject(s)
Dementia , Nurse Practitioners , Aged , Aging , Dementia/therapy , Humans , Primary Health Care , WorkforceABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Health crises in persons living with dementia challenge their caregivers to make pivotal decisions, often under pressure, and to act in new ways on behalf of their care recipient. Disruption of everyday routines and heightened stress are familiar consequences of these events. Hospitalization for acute illness or injury is a familiar health crisis in dementia. The focus of this study is to describe the lived experience of dementia family caregivers whose care recipients had a recent unplanned admission, and to identify potential opportunities for developing preventive interventions. METHODS: Family caregivers (n = 20) of people with dementia who experienced a recent hospitalization due to an ambulatory care sensitive condition or fall-related injury completed phone interviews. Interviews used semi-structured protocols to elicit caregivers' reactions to the hospitalization and recollections of the events leading up to it. RESULTS: Analysis of interview data identified four major themes: (1) caregiver is uncertain how to interpret and act on the change; (2) caregiver is unable to provide necessary care; (3) caregiver experiences a personal crisis in response to the patient's health event; (4) mitigating factors may prevent caregiver crises. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies a need for clinicians and family caregivers to work together to avoid health crises of both caregivers and people with dementia and to enable caregivers to manage the health of their care recipients without sacrificing their own health and wellness.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Dementia/nursing , Family/psychology , Hospitalization , Accidental Falls/prevention & control , Adaptation, Psychological , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Standardized measurement of caregiver stress is a component of Medicare's new health care benefit supporting care planning for people with dementia. In this article we identify existing measures of caregiver stress, strain and burden and propose specific criteria for choosing tools that may be suitable for wide use in primary care settings. We reviewed 22 measures and identified one, the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale (KCSS), which met all the proposed criteria but had not been studied in a U.S. SAMPLE: We conducted a psychometric evaluation of KCSS to determine its potential usefulness as a care planning tool with a U.S. METHODS: We examined the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, component structure, and relationship to depression and anxiety in 227 dementia caregivers at two U.S. sites. RESULTS: The KCSS has high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, a strong factor structure, and moderate to high correlations with caregiver depression and anxiety. CONCLUSION: KCSS is a good candidate for use as part of comprehensive care planning for people with dementia and their caregivers. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Routine assessment of caregiver stress in clinical care may facilitate timely intervention and potentially improve both patient and caregiver outcomes.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Dementia/diagnosis , Occupational Stress/diagnosis , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Anxiety/etiology , Anxiety/psychology , Dementia/therapy , Depression/etiology , Depression/psychology , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Occupational Stress/psychology , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Stress, Psychological/epidemiology , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Improving the quality of health care for individuals living with dementia is a central goal of the National Alzheimer's Plan, and requires the participation of informed family caregivers as active members of the patient's health care team. "Caregiver activation" is an emerging concept for which dementia-specific measures are lacking. We developed and validated a new self-report index of caregiver activation, Partnering for Better Health - Living with Chronic Illness: Dementia ( PBH-LCI: D). PBH-LCI: D has high content validity and good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, with 32 items and a strong six-factor structure reflecting all major health care domains of dementia caregiving. Comparisons with measures of related constructs and potential caregiver and patient predictors of activation indicate that PBH-LCI: D measures a unique construct and therefore should be useful as a marker of caregiver needs for education and behavioral change coaching, and as the foundation for developing interventions to enhance caregiver activation and successful partnership with clinicians.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Health Services Needs and Demand , Self Report , Aged , Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale/statistics & numerical data , Dementia/nursing , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Reproducibility of Results , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Improving dementia care in health systems requires estimates of need in the population served. We explored whether dementia-specific service needs and gaps for patients and caregivers could be predicted by simple information readily captured in routine care settings. METHOD: Primary family caregivers (n = 215) rated their own current stress, challenging patient behaviors, and prior-year needs and gaps in 16 medical and psychosocial services. These were evaluated with other patient and caregiver characteristics in multivariate regressions to identify unique predictors of service needs and gaps. RESULTS: Caregiver stress and patient behavior problems together accounted for an average of 24% of the whole-sample variance in total needs and gaps. All other variables combined (comorbid chronic disease, dementia severity, age, caregiver relationship, and residence) accounted for a mean of 3%, with none yielding more than 4% in any equation. We combined stress and behavior problem indicators into a simple screen. In early/mild dementia dyads (n = 111) typical in primary care settings, the screen identified gaps in total (84%) and psychosocial (77%) care services for high stress/high behavior problem dyads vs. 25% and 23%, respectively, of low stress/low behavior problem dyads. Medical care gaps were dramatically higher in high stress/high behavior problem dyads (66%) than all others (12%). CONCLUSION: The Dementia Services Mini-Screen is a simple tool that could help clinicians and health systems rapidly identify dyads needing enhanced dementia care, track key patient and caregiver outcomes of interventions, and estimate population needs for new service development.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Dementia/diagnosis , Health Services Needs and Demand/statistics & numerical data , Needs Assessment/statistics & numerical data , Aged , Behavioral Symptoms/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Male , Multivariate Analysis , Quality Improvement , Regression Analysis , Stress, Psychological/therapyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Various factors drive a care setting shift from institutional to home settings for dementia care until the latest stage of the disease, suggesting the critical role of family caregivers living with persons with dementia. OBJECTIVES: This study explored the characteristics and correlates of self-reported overall physical and psychological (ie, depressive symptoms and stress) health among family caregivers living with persons with dementia in Sweden. METHODS: This cross-sectional, descriptive study used baseline data from an existing music-based intervention study of persons with dementia and their family caregivers (N = 76). Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: On average, caregivers (n = 38; mean age: 74.8 years) were slightly younger than persons with dementia (n = 38; mean age: 78.6 years). Most caregivers were female (n = 24; 63.2%) and spouses or partners of persons with dementia (n = 37; 97.4%). Caregivers' perceived relationship with their family members with dementia was the only factor associated with caregivers' self-reported overall physical health (b = -0.655, p = .046). This suggests caregivers' more frequent feeling of a good relationship with the persons with dementia was linked to better self-rated physical health among family caregivers living with persons with dementia. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of family caregivers' perceived relationship with persons with dementia in the context of caregivers' self-reported physical health. Future research is needed to explore the perceived relationship from the perspectives of persons with dementia and the determinants of caregiving dyads' (persons with dementia and family caregivers) perceived relationship with each other.
Subject(s)
Caregivers , Dementia , Humans , Female , Aged , Male , Caregivers/psychology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Family/psychology , SpousesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have found that falls among community-dwelling older people with dementia negatively impact the health and well-being of their relative/friend care partners. Limited studies have explored the challenges care partners experience because of older people's falls (including fall incidents and fall risks). We sought to investigate care partners' experiences of these challenges and how care partners responded. METHODS: We conducted an inductive thematic analysis of 48 dementia care partner interviews (age range: 33-86, mean: 61, 70.8% women; 58.3% adult children; 29.2% spouse; 62.5% completed college; 25% people of color), conducted after a health crisis of older people with dementia from three local university-affiliated hospitals in the United States. FINDINGS: Care partners reported that falls in older people with dementia can intensify overall care demands and lead to self-sacrificing behaviors, dissatisfaction with healthcare providers, conflicts with care recipients, and intense emotions. Care partners described several adaptations to mitigate these impacts, including practicing acceptance, approaching falls as an opportunity for learning, facilitating collaborations within formal/informal care networks, collaborating with older people with dementia to balance autonomy and safety, and modifying the physical environment. DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Falls among older people with dementia are a significant stressor and an important activation stimulus for their care partners. Our findings suggest that care partners are "second clients" and "competent collaborators." As they provide important insights about fall prevention, care partners should be engaged to co-design new multi-level interventions to facilitate collaborations among care networks, older people with dementia, and service providers.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Little is known about how to prevent falls in community-dwelling older people with dementia. Although their care partners adopt various behaviors to prevent their falls, it is unclear if these behaviors reduce falls for those with different levels of fall risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Linking the 2015 and 2016 National Health and Aging Trends Study and the 2015 National Study of Caregiving (NSOC), we identified 390 community-dwelling older people with dementia with 607 care partners. We selected 26 NSOC items representing fall risk management (FRM) behaviors. We examined the prevalence and dimensionality of these behaviors and investigated associations between care partners' behaviors in 2015 (T1) and older people's falls in 2016 (T2) stratified by their fall incidence at T1, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Five domains of FRM were identified: mobility and safety assistance, medical service coordination, health management, social service coordination, and accommodation. For those who did not fall at T1, mobility and safety assistance and social service coordination were each associated with an increased risk of falling at T2 (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] = 1.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-1.83, p = .019, aIRR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.01-1.55, p = .043). For those who had fallen at T1, social service coordination was associated with a decreased risk of falling at T2 (aIRR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.73-0.94, p = .004). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The different impacts of dementia care partners' FRM behaviors emphasize the need to address specific behaviors when involving care partners in preventing falls for older people with dementia at varying levels of fall risk.
Subject(s)
Accidental Falls , Caregivers , Dementia , Independent Living , Humans , Accidental Falls/prevention & control , Male , Aged , Female , Aged, 80 and over , Caregivers/psychology , Risk Management/methods , IncidenceABSTRACT
Background: High-quality healthcare for people living with dementia encompasses both patients and care partners (CPs). A framework populated with simple assessment tools is needed to deconstruct this complexity into actionable domains that inform assessment and care planning for individuals and dyads, help differentiate care team roles, and can more fully estimate true population burden in health and social care systems. Design: Researchers used a cross-sectional mixed-methods descriptive study to illustrate the use of an inductive Six Domain framework and simple assessment tools in a sample of dyads selected for complexity. Setting: Data was collected from three university-affiliated hospitals with a shared electronic medical record (EMR). Participants: Eighty-eight CPs for people living with dementia (care recipients) newly discharged home after an acute medical hospitalization participated. Measures: Care recipients' outpatient and inpatient diagnoses, medications, and care were extracted from the EMR. CPs completed an in-home semi-structured interview and study measures. Data were sorted into six domains: three care recipient-focused domains (cognition, emotion/behavior, general and functional health); a single CP-focused domain (mood, cognition, stress, and self-rated health); a health-related social needs domain (enrollment of persons with dementia in low-income insurance, CP-reported financial strain); and a care delivery domain (CP-reported engagement with clinicians in care recipients' care planning, and match between CP-reported knowledge of care recipients' medical care needs and medical records). Results: As expected, all people living with dementia had significant cognitive, neurobehavioral, and medical complexity requiring extensive oversight and management at home. Over a third of CPs reported high stress, depression, or anxiety. A fifth screened positive for one or more indicators of poor health, cognitive impairment, and/or health-related social needs. CP reports and care recipients' medical records were discordant for chronic conditions in 68% of cases and for prescribed medications in 44%. In 85% of cases, there were gaps in indicators of CP-clinician collaboration in care management. Conclusion and relevance: The Six Domains of Health framework captures a broad array of challenges that are relevant to providing comprehensive dyadic care and setting individualized health and social care priorities. With further study, it could provide conceptual scaffolding for comparative population research and more equitable, fully integrated pathways for care.
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Background: Persons living with dementia (PLWD) are more likely to be hospitalized than individuals without dementia. Little is known about key features (i.e., structural capabilities) in primary care practices where PLWD receive care. This study assessed the relationship between structural capabilities (i.e., care coordination, community integration, and reminder systems) and hospitalizations among PLWD. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from 5001 PLWD in 192 practices and used three datasets: nurse practitioner surveys, Medicare claims, and Minimum Data Set. Using generalized estimating equations, we evaluated the association between structural capabilities and hospitalizations. Results: PLWD who received care from practices with care coordination were less likely to have hospitalizations (OR = 0.62, p < .05). No statistically significant associations were observed between community integration and reminder systems and hospitalizations. Conclusion: Primary care practices need to tailor structural capabilities to address the needs of PLWD to reduce hospitalizations.
Subject(s)
Dementia , Medicare , Humans , Aged , United States , Cross-Sectional Studies , Primary Health Care , Hospitalization , Dementia/therapy , CaregiversABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Previous studies have found that pain is associated with fall worry among community-dwelling older people. However, both pain and fall worry are poorly understood and underaddressed among community-dwelling older people with cognitive impairment (CI). It is essential to examine the association between pain and fall worry, and how sociodemographic and health characteristics may shape fall worry among this subgroup. Research Design and Methods: We used data from the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study (analytic sample: n = 1150 community-dwelling older people with CI; were self-interviewed; mean age: 81; age range: 65-107). The number of pain sites in the prior month was assessed by presenting a card listing common pain sites (eg, back, knees). Two questions assessed past-month fall worry, "did you worry about falling down" and "did this worry ever limit your activities." Following descriptive statistics, we fit multinomial logistic regression models to examine the associations between different pain characteristics (number of sites, severity, location) and non-activity-limiting and activity-limiting fall worry. Results: Non-activity-limiting fall worry was endorsed by 21.1% and activity-limiting fall worry by 13.6% of community-dwelling older people with CI. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and fall-worry-related covariates, multinomial logistic regression analysis found that a greater number of pain sites (relative risk ratio [RRR] = 1.22, 95% Confidence Interval [95% CI] = 1.12-1.33, p <.001) and severe pain (RRR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.12-3.75, p = .020) was associated with activity-limiting fall worry. Both lower body (knee, foot, and leg) and upper body (hand, wrist, shoulder, neck, and stomach) pain were found to be associated with a high risk of activity-limiting fall worry. Discussion and Implications: These findings suggest pain and fall worry are common among community-dwelling older people with CI and can be elicited directly from those who are communicative. Fall prevention for this population should prioritize pain management to mitigate activity-limiting fall worry because activity limitation increases the risk of falls.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Resilience - the ability to bounce back after a stressor - is a core component of successful family caregiving for people living with dementia. In this manuscript, we describe the preliminary empirical validation of a new behavioral framework developed from existing literature for assessing care partner resilience, CP-R, and propose its potential value for future research and clinical care. METHODS: We selected 27 dementia care partners who reported significant challenges prompted by a recent health crisis of their care recipient from three local university-affiliated hospitals in the United States. We conducted semi-structured interviews to elicit care partners' accounts of what they did to address those challenges that helped them recover during and after the crisis. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using abductive thematic analysis. FINDINGS: When persons with dementia experienced health crises, care partners described various challenges in managing new and often complex health and care needs, navigating informal and formal care systems, balancing care responsibilities with other needs, and managing difficult emotions. We identified five resilience-related behavioral domains, including problem-response (problem-solving, -distancing, -accepting, and -observing), help-related (help-seeking, -receiving, and -disengaging), self-growth (self-care activities, spiritual-related activities, and developing and maintaining meaningful relationships), compassion-related (self-sacrifice and relational compassion behaviors), and learning-related (learning from others and reflecting). DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Findings support and expand the multidimensional CP-R behavior framework for understanding dementia care partner resilience. CP-R could guide the systematic measurement of dementia care partners' resilience-related behaviors, support individual tailoring of behavioral care plans, and inform the development of resilience-enhancing interventions.
Subject(s)
Caregivers , Dementia , Humans , Caregivers/psychology , Dementia/therapy , Dementia/psychology , Empathy , EmotionsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Undergraduate nursing students will play a pivotal role in caring for the rising numbers of older adults and people living with dementia (PLWD). However, many do not receive training in geriatrics or dementia and do not enter this field post-graduation, contributing to the workforce shortage. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to capture students' interest and intention to work with PLWD, their suggestions about training, and to evaluate interest in a new elective long-term care (LTC) externship. METHODS: We developed and administered a survey to Bachelor of Science in Nursing students consisting of questions modified from the Dementia Attitude Scale and related to respondents' health care experience, attitudes about caring for older adults, comfort working with PLWD, and willingness to develop geriatric and dementia care skills. We then conducted focus groups about desired curricular and clinical content. RESULTS: Seventy-six students completed the survey. The majority reported low interest in working with and low knowledge of caring for older adults and PLWD. Six focus group participants expressed interest in participating in hands-on learning opportunities. Participants identified specific training components to attract students to geriatrics education. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings informed the development, piloting, and evaluation of a new LTC externship at the University of Washington Schoool of Nursing.
Subject(s)
Dementia , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate , Students, Nursing , Humans , Aged , Delivery of Health Care , Workforce , Attitude of Health PersonnelABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Primary care structural capabilities (i.e., electronic health records, care coordination, community integration, and reminder systems) can address the multiple needs of persons living with dementia (PLWD). OBJECTIVES: This study describes structural capabilities in primary care practices where nurse practitioners (NPs) provide care to PLWD and compares the presence of structural capabilities in practices with a high and low volume of PLWD. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from 293 NPs in 259 practices in California. Logistic regression models were used to determine the association between the volume of PLWD and the presence of structural capabilities. RESULTS: NPs reported that 96% of practices had electronic health records, 61% had community integration, 55% had reminder systems and 35% had care coordination capabilities. Practices with a high volume of PLWD were less likely to have community integration compared to practices with a low volume of PLWD. CONCLUSION: Many PLWD-serving practices do not have the essential infrastructure for providing optimal dementia care. Practice managers should focus on implementing the essential structural capabilities to address the complex needs of PLWD. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Clinicians and practice administrations can use the findings of this study to improve the delivery of care in practices that provide care to PLWD.
Subject(s)
Dementia , Nurse Practitioners , Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , Primary Health Care , CaregiversABSTRACT
Objective: Almost 80% of people, who are caring for someone with dementia, have one or more chronic conditions and require self-management support. New technologies offer promising solutions; however, little is known about what technologies caregivers use for their health or in general. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of mobile application (app) and health-related technology use among caregivers who have chronic conditions and care for someone with dementia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 122 caregivers recruited online and from communities in the Baltimore-metropolitan area. Data were collected with online surveys and computer-assisted telephone interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze survey data. Results: Study participants were primarily female (95 of 122, 77.9%), middle-aged (average 53 years, standard deviation (SD) 17), well educated (average 16 years, SD 3.3), an adult child of the person with dementia (53 of 122, 43.4%), and had 4 chronic conditions on average (SD 2.6). Over 90% of caregivers used mobile apps (116 of 122), spending a range of 9 to 82â min on each app. Most caregivers reported using social media apps (96 of 116, 82.8%), weather apps (96 of 116, 82.8%), and/or music or entertainment apps (89 of 116, 76.7%). Among caregivers using each app type, more than half of caregivers used social media (66 of 96, 69%), games (49 of 74, 66%), weather (62 of 96, 65%), and/or music or entertainment apps (51 of 89, 57%) daily. Caregivers also used several technologies to support their own health-the most common being websites, mobile devices, and health-related mobile apps. Conclusion: This study supports the feasibility of using technologies to promote health behavior change and support self-management among caregivers.
ABSTRACT
This systematic review presents an overview of the existing dementia care models in various ambulatory care settings under three categories (i.e., home- and community-based care models, partnership between health systems and community-based resources, and consultation models) and their impact on hospitalization among Persons Living with Dementia (PLWD). PRISMA guidelines were applied, and our search resulted in a total of 13 studies focusing on 11 care models. Seven studies reported that utilization of dementia care models was associated with a modest reduction in hospitalization among community-residing PLWD. Only two studies reported statistically significant results. Dementia care models that were utilized in specialty ambulatory care settings such as memory care showed more promising results than traditional primary care. To develop a better understanding of how dementia care models can be improved, future studies should explore how confounders (e.g., stage of dementia) influence hospitalization.
Subject(s)
Dementia , Ambulatory Care , Dementia/therapy , Hospitalization , Humans , Referral and ConsultationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Caring for a person living with dementia requires resilience, the capacity to recover and grow from challenging situations. Despite the increasing interest in assessing and promoting resilience for dementia care partners, behaviors that indicate this attribute are not well known. The aim of this study was to synthesize the literature to identify resilience-related behaviors and develop a new framework for future validation and intervention research. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We searched English-language peer-reviewed articles (January 1991-June 2019) reporting qualitative or quantitative descriptions of resilience-related behaviors among dementia care partners. Thematic analysis was used to categorize behaviors into domains, identify the relationships among them, and generate a thematic map. RESULTS: Sixteen articles were identified according to predefined inclusion criteria. Four domains emerged: (a) problem-response behaviors (problem-solving, problem-distancing); (b) self-growth behaviors (self-care activities, spiritual-related activities, and developing and maintaining meaningful social relationships); (c) help-related behaviors (help-seeking and help-receiving); and (d) learning-related behaviors (learning from others and reflection). Definitions of each domain, identification of corresponding behaviors, and formulation of Care Partner Resilience (CP-R) behavioral framework were informed by mixed research synthesis results and other relevant literature. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The CP-R framework emerged as a result of a new focus on identifying and cultivating strengths instead of evaluating strain and burden. It serves as a useful foundation for understanding the impact of specific behaviors on dementia care partner resilience. Once validated, this framework will inform the development of future measures, research, interventions, and policies for dementia care partners.