Publications by authors named "Milena Contreras"

Article Synopsis
  • Dementia affects not just the person who has it but also their spouse, changing their relationship in many ways.
  • The study looked at how carers, mainly women, adjust to their new roles and the challenges they face, such as losing the special connection with their partner.
  • To improve their relationship, the study suggests using methods like sharing memories together, learning better ways to communicate, and practicing self-compassion to help cope with these feelings.
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Anxiety remains understudied in family carers of people with dementia. Understanding factors that moderate the relationship between stressors and anxiety symptoms in this population is critical to inform interventions. This study examined whether generic experiential avoidance (AAQ-II) and experiential avoidance specific to caregiving-related thoughts and feelings (EACQ) moderate the relationship between subjective burden (ZBI-12) and anxiety symptoms (GAD-7) in carers of people with dementia.

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This study investigated whether the relationship between experiential avoidance and carer depression is mediated by cognitive fusion using path analysis and whether this model differs between family carers from Japan, Spain, and the UK using multi-group path analysis. The whole sample model ( = 745) showed a good fit to the data. The direct effect of experiential avoidance on carer depression ( = .

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Objectives: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are considered to cause ambivalent feelings in caregivers that may contribute to understanding their depressive symptoms. Transnational research is needed in order to increase our knowledge about the cross-cultural equivalence of theoretical models to understand caregivers' mental health. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally analyze the association between BPSD, ambivalent feelings and depressive symptoms in two samples of family caregivers of people with dementia from Spain and the UK.

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The role of anxiety on the quality of life of family carers of people with dementia is somewhat neglected in the carer literature. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of common risk factors (i.e.

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Existing interventions for family carers of people with dementia tend to be less effective for anxiety than for depression. Therefore, identifying factors affecting carer anxiety is important to inform future interventions. This study conducted 2 multiple regression analyses using a sample of 91 family carers.

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Purpose: To explore carers' views and acceptability of internet-delivered, therapist-guided, self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS).

Methods: A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was employed with family carers (N = 23) taking part in a feasibility study of iACT4CARERS. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

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This study aimed to adapt and validate the Spanish version of the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory-Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ; Corr & Cooper, 2016) and to demonstrate how RST constructs are associated with a variety of everyday behaviors. To achieve this goal, three studies have been conducted. In Study 1, a direct translation of the items from English to Spanish was pilot-tested in a sample of 139 students and a descriptive analysis of items was conducted.

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Objectives: The feasibility of research into internet-delivered guided self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for family carers of people with dementia is not known. This study assessed this in an uncontrolled feasibility study.

Method: Family carers of people with dementia with mild to moderate anxiety or depression were recruited from primary and secondary healthcare services in the UK.

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The current study aimed to identify the educational and support needs of family carers of people with dementia in the early stages of dementia by employing a qualitative approach with retrospective semi-structured interviews with family carers of people in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted via telephone or Microsoft Teams video call. Purposive sampling was used to recruit twelve family carers of people with moderate or severe AD.

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The United Kingdom-Brazil Dementia Workshop took place in July 2019 in the city of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, with an interdisciplinary group of health and care professionals from the United Kingdom and from Brazil to address challenges in diagnosis, public perception and care of dementia. The aim of this article is to present the results identified in relation to challenges in the care of dementia, including recommendations that could potentially guide local and State/Municipal authorities and care services for people with dementia in the future. Four key issues were prioritised to identify challenges and generate possible solutions in Brazil and the United Kingdom: I) limitations of current health systems; II) continuous and long-term support for family carers (pre-diagnosis, mourning); III) support for people with advanced dementia and end-of-life care; IV) support for people with young-onset dementia.

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Objectives: This meta-analysis aimed to (1) quantitatively synthesize evidence of factors related to the quality of life (QoL) of family carers of people with dementia and (2) explore moderating factors that may influence the strength of the relationship between such potential predictive factors and carer QoL.

Methods: Studies that investigated correlations between patient/carer factors and QoL in unpaid family carers of people with dementia and were published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Japanese were included.

Results: Thirty-three studies were identified.

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