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Dementia Care, Women’s Health, and Gender Equity: The Value of Well-Timed Caregiver Support. (JAMA Neurology, 2017, May. Epub)

Women provide nearly two-thirds of all elder care, with wives more likely to care for husbands than vice versa and daughters 28% more likely to care for a parent than sons. Making up 47% of the workforce in 2015, burgeoning caregiving demands will disproportionately fall on working-age women, as will the associated decreases in self-esteem.
For women who remain in the workforce, dementia care responsibilities can increase costs to their employers from absenteeism, productivity loss, stress-related disability claims. It remains to be seen whether men can be persuaded to assume an equal share of the burden of caregiving. While gender parity in childcare is modestly growing, gender parity in dementia care is unlikely to occur anytime soon.5 Hard-fought gains toward equality in the workplace for women are at risk.

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Gratitude and coping among familial caregivers of persons with dementia. (Aging Ment Health, 2017, 21(4) p. 445-453)

Gratitude is widely perceived as a key factor to psychological well-being by different cultures and religions. The relationship between gratitude and coping in the context of familial dementia caregiving has yet to be investigated.
The present results indicate the beneficial role of gratitude on coping with caregiving distress and provide empirical foundation for incorporating gratitude in future psychological interventions for caregivers.

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How to explore the needs of informal caregivers of individuals with cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease or related diseases? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. (BMC Geriatr. 2017, 17(1) p. 86)

This study aims to review the methodologies used to identify the needs, the existing needs assessment instruments and the main topics of needs explored among caregivers of patients with mild cognitive impairment to dementia.
No instrument has been developed and validated to assess the needs of informal caregivers of patients with cognitive impairment, whatever the stage and the etiology of the disease. As the perceived needs of caregivers may evolve with the progression of the disease and the dementia transition, their needs should be regularly assessed.

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Psychological status and quality of life among primary caregivers of individuals with mental illness: a hospital based study. (Health Qual Life Outcomes, 2017, 15(1) p. 106)

This study aimed to explore the psychological status and quality of life among primary caregivers of individuals suffering from various mental illnesses including early psychosis, chronic schizophrenia, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and dementia.
Psychological status of caregivers in the current study was associated with the various domains of quality of life (QOL). In particular, caregivers’ symptoms of depression were significantly associated with lower QOL across all four domains of QOL whereas symptoms of anxiety were associated with lower scores in the social relationships domain. The study suggests a need to provide caregivers with social support and psycho-education to improve the QOL as well as aid in developing healthy coping strategies.

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Care Transitions and Adult Day Services Moderate the Longitudinal Links between Stress Biomarkers and Family Caregivers’ Functional Health. (Gerontology, 2017, May. Epub)

Stress biomarkers have been linked to health and well-being. There are, however, few studies on how dysregulation in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system actually affects functional health of family caregivers of persons with dementia. Further, it is not clear whether and how factors affecting caregiving stressor exposures such as care transitions and adult day services (ADS) use may affect such association.
The study contributes to an important but largely unanswered question regarding implications of stress biomarkers on functional health. Assessments of the association between stress biomarkers and health among family caregivers of persons with dementia need to consider changes in stressor exposures over time, such as care transitions and ADS use.

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The NHS desperately needs to keep the nurses it already has and attract new recruits. Yet efforts to fill thousands of vacancies risk being overwhelmed by mounting pressures and a lack of joined-up policy (Nursing Standard, 2017, 31(37) p. 26-28)

The NHS in England has 24,000 vacancies for nurses, leaving many trusts with more than 200 posts vacant. But the cumulative impact of a number of factors – from an ageing workforce and pay restraint to Brexit – could make staff shortages a great deal worse in the near future.

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Practice environments and job satisfaction and turnover intentions of nurse practitioners: Implications for primary care workforce capacity. (Health Care Management Review, 2017, 42 (2) p. 162-171)

Health care professionals, organizations, and policy makers are calling for expansion of the nurse practitioner (NP) workforce in primary care to assure timely access and high-quality care. However, most efforts promoting NP practice have been focused on state level scope of practice regulations, with limited attention to the organizational structures.
NPs were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and less likely to report intent to leave if their organizations support NP practice, favorable relations with physicians and administration, and clear role visibility. Creating productive practice environments that can retain NPs is a potential strategy for increasing the primary care workforce capacity.

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Meaningful interviewing for retention (Nursing Management, 2017, 48 ( 3) p. 7-8)

Attracting top nursing talent is often challenging; for most healthcare organizations, the emphasis is on retaining those who they attract and hire. In the past, talent acquisition and retention weren’t in close proximity — organizations would find a talented employee and then focus on keeping him or her. The truth is, they should be thinking about retaining talent before they even start the search. The toolbox for keeping talented team members includes performing prehire assessments and observing the data/trends. This article gives you tips on finding the sutures: the nurses who weave into the culture of your unit and stay for the long haul.

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Student life – How to fix the leaky bucket: investing in nurse education (Nursing Standard, 2017, 31(37) p.35)

Delegates at this year’s RCN congress will discuss the impact of funding cuts on nurses’ education and development.
Education is key to fixing ‘the leaky bucket’, where more nurses are leaving the profession than joining it, says a specialist RCN group.

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Nurse leaders as managers of ethically sustainable caring cultures. (Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2017, 73(4) p. 871-882)

The aim of this study was to identify the distinctive foundations of the care culture and how nurse leaders ( NL) can manage and strengthen these in a quest for ethically sustainable caring cultures. Conclusion The basis of good care, patient safety and sustainability is comprised of ethics with a respectful and dignified care that is evidence-based and economically stable. Through their management NLs have a responsibility to nurture and protect the core of caring and create contextual, professional and cultural prerequisites to maintain the core and art of caring as well as care staff’s ethical and professional competence.

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