TDNet Discover

Background: The population of dementia patients is ever-growing. Caregivers often experience burden that negatively impacts their lives as well as the care they can provide for the dementia patients. There has been research conducted to discover effective ways at reducing caregiver burden, but research lacks clear recommendations and interventions. Objective: To determine what specific actions in caregivers of dementia patients could be preventative or beneficial in relation to caregiver burden and caregiver quality of life. Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted from PubMed, EBSCOhost, Cochrane Library, and ProQuest using search terms “caregiver burden,” “dementia,” “caregiver,” “quality of life,” and “coping.” Three researchers independently compared available abstracts against specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. After full text reviews, final articles were selected and reviewed by an independent two-member panel. Quality assessment, data extraction, and qualitative analysis of the final articles was then conducted. Results: Seven articles were selected for this systematic review. Six of the seven studies described interventions that significantly reduced caregiver burden. These interventions included education, provision of resources, self-care, peer support, psychological support, managing of disruptive behaviors, problem solving skills, visual arts education, and social integration. None of the studies resulted in a significantly improved caregiver quality of life. Conclusion: This systematic review demonstrates effective interventions on reducing burden and outlines recommendations that practitioners can provide to caregivers of dementia patients. Further research on caregiver burden in non-Alzheimer's dementia patients and with a uniform measuring tool will create distinct recommendations for reducing risk of caregiver burden.