afstudeerscriptie van studente Psychologie Yasmin Gharavi gepubliceerd in BMC Psychiatry: Background: Family members who care for patients with severe mental illness experience emotional distress and report a higher incidence of mental illness than those in the general population. They report feeling inadequately prepared to provide the necessary practical and emotional support for these patients. The MAT training, an Interaction- Skills Training program (IST) for caregivers, was developed to meet those needs. This study used a single-arm pretestposttest design to examine the impact of the training on caregivers’ sense of competence (self-efficacy) and burden.
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Purpose of review: To summarize the latest research on the risks and consequences of the burden that may be imposed on informal carers of persons living and dying with advanced heart failure.Recent findings: A systematic search in PubMed over the period 2013–2014 ultimately revealed 24 original articles included in this review. From this research update it can be concluded that the body of knowledge increased with more studies focusing on caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure.Summary: Caregivers are important partners in care and their lives are seriously affected by the condition of advanced heart failure. Studies on the longitudinal effects of the caregiving role on caregiver's quality of life and on caregiver contributions to patient outcomes is still scarce. Focus of current research is moving towards relationship aspects. Dyadic-care typologies and the concept of incongruence within dyads in terms of conflicting perspectives on how to manage the heart failure are new and important concepts presented in studies presented in this review. Heart failure patients and their caregivers still lack sufficient palliative care and communication on prognosis and end-of-life care. More research is needed to determine the optimal time to start palliative interventions to support caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure.
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ObjectiveIn this Lesson from the Field, we examine changes in the burden experienced by caregivers of persons who experience homelessness associated with lack employment, employability or education, and mental health challenges when the care recipient receives support from an outreach professional known as a social street worker (herein identified as worker). In addition, we focus on caregivers' perception of change in the quality of their relationship with the person for whom they care and whether the caregivers receive support from the worker.BackgroundIn the Netherlands, due to the transformation toward a participation society, persons living in compromised circumstances must increasingly rely on caregivers for support and shelter instead of relying on services, such as support from social community teams.MethodsWorkers provided by a Dutch organization covering the northwest of the Netherlands gained the consent of their clients to contact the clients' caregivers. Caregivers were invited to participate in the research and completed consent. A total of 111 caregivers of persons receiving support from workers completed surveys.ResultsCaregivers who had more contact with the worker worried less about the person for whom they provided care. No changes were found regarding tension between caregivers and the person for whom they cared. Most caregivers (73%) perceived positive changes in the quality of the relationship with the person for whom they provided care, and 52% received support from the worker.ConclusionMost carers did not perceive changes in their burden, but did perceived positive changes in the quality of the relationship with the person for whom they cared and received support themselves.ImplicationsOur study underpins the need to recognize the caregiver's burden of caregivers who support marginalized people, to connect with these caregivers, and to support them.
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