Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of the Taking Care of Us Intervention for Couples Living With Heart Failure.

Background And Objectives: Despite the significant impact of heart failure on both members of the care dyad, few interventions focus on optimizing the health of the dyad. The current study examined the feasibility and acceptability of the novel Taking Care of Us (TCU) program with mid-late-life couples living with heart failure and explored preliminary efficacy.

Research Design And Methods: This NIH Stage I study used a 2-arm randomized controlled trial with pretest-post-test design and an additional 5-month follow-up to compare TCU with an educational counseling attention-control condition.

Taking Care of Us© (TCU) study protocol: feasibility and acceptability of a dyadic intervention for couples living with heart failure.

Background: There are more than 1 million hospital admissions and 3 million emergency visits for heart failure in the USA annually. Although spouse/partners make substantial contributions to the management of heart failure and experience poor health and high levels of care strain, they are rarely the focus of heart failure interventions. This protocol describes a pilot randomized controlled trial that tests the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary change in outcomes of a seven-session couple-based intervention called Taking Care of Us© (TCU).

The Remote Assessment and Dynamic Response Program: Development of an In-Home Dementia-Related Care Needs Assessment to Improve Well-Being.

Background And Objectives: The Remote Assessment and Dynamic Response (READyR) Program was developed in order to address the current lack of early-stage dementia care planning programs that assess the care needs of persons with dementia. The goal was to create a program informed by care values and ongoing ecologically valid data. The objectives of this study are to describe the development and design process of the READyR Program, and to evaluate the utility of the READyR Program for identifying dementia-related care needs.

A dyadic perspective on assessment in Alzheimer's dementia: Supporting both care partners across the disease continuum.

Written from a dyadic strength-based perspective, this article first provides a brief overview of the Education, Information, and Support section of the 2018 Alzheimer's Disease Dementia Care Practice Recommendations. Subsequent sections present a comprehensive overview of available valid and reliable psychosocial measures that assess a selection of important domains for dementia care planning that can be used by families from early stage until end-of-life. Measures selected for the purposes of this article will focus on concepts that are strength-based and most relevant to care dyads as they navigate the difficult disease trajectory: readiness, knowledge, coping, dyadic relationship, care values and preferences.

Patterns of Dyadic Appraisal of Decision-Making Involvement of African American Persons Living With Dementia.

Background And Objectives: Greater everyday decision-making involvement by persons living with dementia (PLWD) and congruent appraisal between PLWDs and their caregivers have been associated with a better quality of life (QOL) for both members of the dyad. However, no study has examined the association between the appraisals of everyday decision-making involvement of PLWDs and their QOL among African Americans.

Research Design And Methods: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from 62 African American dementia dyads was conducted.

The ResidentialCare Transition Module: a single-blinded randomized controlled evaluation of a telehealth support intervention for family caregivers of persons with dementia living in residential long-term care.

Background: Families do not fully disengage from care responsibilities following relatives' admissions to residential long-term (RLTC) care settings such as nursing homes. Caregiver stress, depression, or other key outcomes remain stable or sometimes increase following a relative's RLTC entry. Some interventions have attempted to increase family involvement after institutionalization, but few rigorous studies have demonstrated whether these interventions are effective in helping families navigate the potential emotional and psychological upheaval presented by relatives' transitions to RLTC environments.

Factors influencing quality of life in African-American dementia dyads.

Both caregivers and the older adults they care for can experience declines in quality of life (QOL) over the course of the dementia trajectory. Little research has examined QOL in African-American caregivers and even less in African-American persons with dementia (PWDs), making it difficult to identify associated factors. Guided by the Negro Family as a Social System framework, a secondary data analysis was used to examine the influence of family structure, instrumental and expressive role functions on QOL in a sample of 62 African-American dementia dyads (i.

Challenges to and strategies for recruiting chronic care dyads into intervention research.

Objectives: Recruiting and enrolling appropriate participants into research trials for chronic illness populations can be challenging and time intensive. Successful recruitment requires a variety of strategies that may change as the study progresses. This paper reports on the challenges of and actions taken for recruiting and enrolling into research families living with chronic illnesses.

Well-being in dementia: a cross-sectional dyadic study of the impact of multiple dimensions of strain on persons living with dementia and their family care partners.

Unlabelled: ABSTRACTBackground and Purpose:The impact of dementia-related stressors and strains have been examined for their potential to threaten the well-being of either the person with dementia or the family care partner, but rarely have studies considered the dyadic nature of well-being in dementia. The purpose of this study was to examine the dyadic effects of multiple dimensions of strain on the well-being of dementia care dyads.

Methods: Using multilevel modeling to account for the inter-relatedness of individual well-being within dementia care dyads, we examined cross-sectional responses collected from 42 dyads comprised of a hospitalized patient diagnosed with a primary progressive dementia (PWD) and their family care partner (CP).

Care Values in Dementia: Patterns of Perception and Incongruence Among Family Care Dyads.

Background And Objectives: Persons with dementia (PWDs) often place greater importance on their care values (i.e., maintaining autonomy and social relations, choosing caregivers, avoiding being a burden) than family caregivers (CGs) perceive, which can detract from dementia care planning (e.

Meeting the Informational, Educational, and Psychosocial Support Needs of Persons Living With Dementia and Their Family Caregivers.

Background And Objectives: Meeting the unique and changing needs of individuals living with Alzheimer's disease and their family caregivers can be very challenging given the dynamic and often unpredictable nature of the disease. Effective programs are available to help families manage the challenges they will face.

Research Design And Methods: This article first describes the educational, information, and support needs of individuals living dementia and their family caregivers across all stages of Alzheimer's.

Does an intervention designed to improve self-management, social support and awareness of palliative-care address needs of persons with heart failure, family caregivers and clinicians?

Aims And Objectives: To conduct a formative evaluation of the iPad-Enhanced Shared Care Intervention for Partners (iSCIP) among persons with heart failure (HF), family caregivers and clinicians. Together, persons with HF and family caregivers are referred to as partners.

Background: There is growing awareness of the caregiver's contributions to HF self-management, social support and reciprocal benefits of interventions that involve both partners.

Involvement of Hospitalized Persons With Dementia in Everyday Decisions: A Dyadic Study.

Background And Objectives: To examine the involvement of persons with dementia (PWDs) in everyday decision making from the perspectives of hospitalized PWDs and their family caregivers, and to identify determinants thereof.

Research Design And Methods: Using multilevel modeling, we examined cross-sectional data collected prospectively from 42 family care dyads regarding the care values of the PWD.

Results: Both members of the dyad rated the PWD, on average, as being "somewhat involved".

Incongruent perceptions of the care values of hospitalized persons with dementia: a pilot study of patient-family caregiver dyads.

Objective: Many difficult decisions are made in the inpatient hospital setting regarding the daily care of persons with dementia (PWDs). Incongruent perceptions of the PWD's care values limit the family caregiver's ability to make surrogate decisions. The objectives of this pilot study were to describe and identify determinants of incongruent perceptions in the hospital setting.

Does it Matter if We Disagree? The Impact of Incongruent Care Preferences on Persons with Dementia and Their Care Partners.

Purpose: To gain a better understanding of how actual and perceived incongruence of care preferences affects the psychosocial well-being of persons with dementia and their family caregiver.

Design And Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 128 dyads each consisting of a person with dementia and a family caregiver. Baseline data from an intervention study were used to examine the relationship between the caregiver's care-related preferences, the person with dementia's care-related preferences, and the caregiver's perception of the person with dementia's preferences.

The SHARE program for dementia: Implementation of an early-stage dyadic care-planning intervention.

This article describes the implementation of SHARE (Support, Health, Activities, Resources, and Education), a counseling-based care-planning intervention for persons living with early-stage dementia and their family caregivers (CGs). The foundation of SHARE is built upon assessing and documenting the person living with dementia's care values and preferences for future care. Using the SHARE approach, CGs are given an opportunity to achieve an understanding of their loved one's desires before the onset of disease progression when the demand for making care decisions is high.

Recruitment challenges and strategies: Lessons learned from an early-stage dyadic intervention (innovative practice).

An increasing number of family caregivers are seeking services and support due in large part to the dramatic increase in the number of older adults obtaining dementia diagnoses. This paper describes barriers and challenges experienced by our research team in recruiting early-stage dementia caregiving dyads into research studies. Effective recruitment and screening strategies to address these barriers are also discussed.

Predictors of Discrepancy Between Care Recipients With Mild-to-Moderate Dementia and Their Caregivers on Perceptions of the Care Recipients' Quality of Life.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to explore predictors of discrepancy between reports of caregivers (CGs) and care recipients (CRs) with mild-to-moderate dementia about CRs' quality of life (QOL).

Design And Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data drawn from a study of 200 care dyads of CRs with mild-to-moderate dementia and their primary family CGs. Paired t test, ordinary least squares multiple regression, and binary logistic regression were used for the analyses.

Quality of Life for Dementia Caregiving Dyads: Effects of Incongruent Perceptions of Everyday Care and Values.

Purpose Of The Study: This dyadic study investigated incongruence in care recipients' (CRs') and caregivers' (CGs') perceptions of (a) CRs' involvement in decision making and (b) how much CRs value social relations as predictors of subjective quality of life (QOL) of CRs with mild-to-moderate dementia and their primary family CGs.

Design And Methods: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional, dyadic data from in-person interviews with 205 CRs with mild-to-moderate dementia and their primary family CGs Incongruence was operationalized in two ways: absolute difference and direction of difference. Paired t tests and multilevel modeling were used to analyze differences.

Activity and well-being of older adults: does cognitive impairment play a role?

This analysis assesses the activity level of 324 older adults and the relationship of activity to quality of life with a specific emphasis on the role of cognitive ability. Although the number of older adults with cognitive impairment continues to grow, few studies have examined the variation in activity and quality of life based on the older adults' cognitive status. Results indicated that cognitively impaired older adults were less active than their nonimpaired peers; however, correlations revealed that regardless of impairment status, more activity was related to a higher quality of life.

Time for living and caring: an intervention to make respite more effective for caregivers.

This article presents the rationale for and description of a promising intervention, Time for Living and Caring (TLC), designed to enhance the effectiveness of respite services for family caregivers. It is guided by the theoretical principles of the Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) model, which individually coaches caregivers on how to assess their personal circumstances, identify their greatest needs and preferences, and engage in goal setting and attainment strategies to make better use of their respite time. Focusing on respite activities that match caregivers' unique needs is likely to result in improved well-being.

Shared decision-making in dementia: A review of patient and family carer involvement.

This paper reviews empirical findings concerning the decision-making process of persons with dementia and their family carers, with a particular focus on the extent and determinants of involvement of persons with dementia in the decision-making process. To be included in this review, studies needed to be published in peer-reviewed journals between 1999 and 2014, report empirical data from participants with dementia and/or their family carers, and pertain to the involvement of persons with dementia and their family carers in decisions about everyday care, medical care and treatment, or long-term care. A total of 36 studies were included.

Religiosity and quality of life: a dyadic perspective of individuals with dementia and their caregivers.

Objectives: Dyadic coping theory purports the benefit of joint coping strategies within a couple, or dyad, when one dyad member is faced with illness or stress. We examine the effect of religiosity on well-being for individuals with dementia (IWDs). In particular, we look at the effect of both dyad members' religiosity on perceptions of IWDs' quality of life (QoL).