Coping with transitions in life: a four-year longitudinal narrative study of single younger people with dementia.

People with younger onset dementia (YOD <65 years) experience a great transformation of existential life. Living alone, they lack the support of a partner, and have a higher risk of moving into a residential care facility. To explore how people living alone with YOD experience and cope with transitions during the progression of dementia.

Medical and Research Consent Decision-Making Capacity in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.

The capacity to make decisions is an important feature of daily living, which is closely linked to proper cognitive functioning. In conditions in which cognitive functioning becomes compromised, such as in Alzheimer's disease (AD), decision-making capacity can also get affected. Especially in AD, this has important implications, since over the course of the condition many important clinical decisions have to be made.

MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment in Alzheimer disease: cross-cultural adaptation.

Objective:: We adapted the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T) to Brazilian Portuguese, pilot testing it on mild and moderate patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods:: The cross-cultural process required six steps. Sixty-six patients with AD were assessed for competence to consent to treatment, global cognition, working memory, awareness of disease, functionality, depressive symptoms and dementia severity.

Caregivers' resilience is independent from the clinical symptoms of dementia.

Resilience is the capacity for successful adaptation when faced with the stress of adversity. We aimed to investigate the relationship between caregivers' resilience and the sociodemographic and clinical factors of people with dementia. Cross-sectional assessment of 58 people with dementia and their caregiver dyads showed that most caregivers were female adult children.

Mood-congruent recollection and anosognosia in Alzheimer's disease.

The aim of the study was to investigate experimentally the impact of current mood state on anosognosia or awareness of symptoms in AD patients, in which mood state was manipulated by giving tasks that were either easy (success condition) or very difficult (failure condition). Twenty-two patients with mild to moderate AD participated. Four success-failure manipulation (SFM) computerized tasks were used as mood induction procedures, two based on reaction time tasks and the other on memory tasks.

Perception of change in sexual activity in Alzheimer's disease: views of people with dementia and their spouse-caregivers.

Introduction: The onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects couples' relationship. We investigated the perception of change and sexual satisfaction in spouse-caregivers and their partners diagnosed with AD.

Methods: We compared 74 dyads of people with Alzheimer's disease (PwAD)/spouse-caregivers and 21 elderly dyads control.

Psychological Interventions for Neuropsychiatric Disturbances in Mild and Moderate Alzheimer's Disease: Current Evidences and Future Directions.

The occurrence of the neuropsychiatric disturbances is common feature in dementia. Nonpharmacological interventions are the first approach to manage these symptoms. We reviewed the available literature data on psychological interventions for neuropsychiatric disturbances in Alzheimer's disease (AD) focusing on the significant impact on people with dementia and their caregivers.

Quality of life in young onset dementia: an updated systematic review.

Introduction: Young onset dementia (YOD) develops before 65 years of age and has specific age-related adverse consequences for quality of life (QoL). We systematically examined factors related to the QoL of people with YOD and their caregivers.

Method: This systematic review used the PRISMA methodology.

Factors associated with caregiver burden: comparative study between Brazilian and Spanish caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Background: Transcultural studies regarding the comparison of levels of burden in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from Europe and Latin America are rare. We designed this study to investigate the differentiating factors associated with burden in Brazilian and Spanish caregivers of patients with AD.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study composed by samples of outpatients with AD and their caregivers from Brazil (n = 128) and Spain (n = 146).

Quality of life in mild dementia: patterns of change in self and caregiver ratings over time.

Objectives:: To determine changes over time in self and caregiver ratings of quality of life (QoL) in people with dementia (PwD) and to identify factors associated with changes in QoL ratings.

Methods:: In this longitudinal study, 69 people with mild Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers were assessed at baseline and after 1 year. We examined the association of QoL ratings with the following variables at the two time points: awareness of disease, cognitive status, mood, functionality, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and caregiver burden.

Psychosocial impact of early onset dementia among caregivers.

Introduction: There is growing recognition of early onset dementia (EOD) as a significant clinical and social problem because of its effects on physical and mental health of people with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers.

Objective: To analyze the psychosocial impact of EOD in family caregivers.

Methods: The study design was qualitative.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Social and Emotional Questionnaire on Dementia for the Brazilian population.

Context And Objective: Impairments in social and emotional functioning may affect the communication skills and interpersonal relationships of people with dementia and their caregivers. This study had the aim of presenting the steps involved in the cross-cultural adaptation of the Social and Emotional Questionnaire (SEQ) for the Brazilian population.

Design And Setting: Cross-cultural adaptation study, conducted at the Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in a public university.

Facial expression recognition in Alzheimer's disease: a longitudinal study.

Facial recognition is one of the most important aspects of social cognition. In this study, we investigate the patterns of change and the factors involved in the ability to recognize emotion in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Through a longitudinal design, we assessed 30 people with AD.

Resilience of caregivers of people with dementia: a systematic review of biological and psychosocial determinants.

Introduction: Although caregivers of people with dementia may face difficulties, some positive feelings of caregiving may be associated with resilience.

Objective: This study systematically reviewed the definitions, methodological approaches and determinant models associated with resilience among caregivers of people with dementia.

Methods: Search for articles published between 2003 and 2014 in ISI, PubMed/MEDLINE, SciELO and Lilacs using the search terms resilience, caregivers and dementia.

Caregivers' quality of life in mild and moderate dementia.

Objective: To investigate quality of life (QoL) of caregivers of mild and moderate dementia and the aspects related to QoL.

Method: Cross-sectional assessment of dyads of people with dementia (PwD) and family caregivers (n=88).

Results: Burden (p<0.

Spouse-caregivers' quality of life in Alzheimer's disease.

Background: The relationship between sexuality and quality of life (QoL) of spouse-caregivers remains unclear. We designed this study to evaluate the relationship between sexual satisfaction and spouse-caregivers' QoL, and to determine the influence of the clinical characteristics of people with dementia (PWD) on spouse-caregivers' self-reported QoL.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 54 PWD and their spouse-caregivers completed the QoL in Alzheimer's Disease scale (QoL-AD), questionnaire on sexual experience and satisfaction (QSES), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating scale (CDR), Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), Pfeffer functional activities questionnaire (FAQ), the Cornell scale for depression in dementia (CSDD) and Zarit burden interview (ZBI).

Awareness of disease is different for cognitive and functional aspects in mild Alzheimer's disease: a one-year observation study.

Awareness of disease can be compromised to some degree in a proportion of people with dementia, with evident differences across domains. We designed this study to determine the factors associated with the impairment of awareness over a period of time. Using a longitudinal design, 69 people with mild Alzheimer's disease and their family caregivers completed the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia, the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and the Zarit Burden Interview.

Awareness of disease in dementia: factor structure of the assessment scale of psychosocial impact of the diagnosis of dementia.

Despite the growing understanding of the conceptual complexity of awareness, there currently exists no instrument for assessing different domains of awareness in dementia. In the current study, the psychometric properties of a multidimensional awareness scale, the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), are explored in a sample of 201 people with dementia and their family caregivers. Cronbach's alpha was high (α = 0.

Quality of life in dementia: the role of non-cognitive factors in the ratings of people with dementia and family caregivers.

Background: The validity of self-reported quality-of-life (QoL) assessments of people with dementia (PWD) is a critical issue. We designed this study to determine the non-cognitive factors that are associated with self-reported QoL and PWD QoL as rated by family caregivers.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional study, we assessed QoL of 41 people with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Cultural aspects in dementia: differences in the awareness of Brazilian caregivers.

Objective: To explore differences in disease awareness in participants of a psychoeducational group designed for Latin American caregivers of people with dementia.

Method: We assessed participants of a group developed at an outpatient unit for Alzheimer's disease. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze differences in the caregivers' reports.