Burden of care, social support, and sense of coherence in elderly caregivers living with individuals with symptoms of dementia. (Dementia, 2016, 15(6) p. 1422-1435)

Family members are often the care providers of individuals with dementia, and it is assumed that the need for this will increase. There has been little research into the association between the burden of care and the caregiver’s sense of coherence or receipt of social support. This study examined the relationship between the social support subdimensions and sense of coherence and the burden of care among older people giving care to a partner with dementia.

The burden of care was associated with attachment and with sense of coherence. Community nurses and other health professionals should take necessary action to strengthen attachment and sense of coherence among the caregivers of people with dementia. Qualitative studies could provide deeper understanding of the variation informal caregivers experience when living together with their partner with dementia.

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Eating Behaviors and Dietary Changes in Patients With Dementia. (Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2016, 31(8) p. 706-716)

The aim of this article is to explore the generalized problems with nutrition, diet, feeding, and eating reported among patients with dementia. Concludes that Individuals with dementia frequently develop serious feeding difficulties and changes in eating and dietary habits. The changes may be secondary to cognitive impairment or apraxia, or the result of insufficient caregiving, or the consequence of metabolic or neurochemical abnormalities occurring as part of the dementing process.

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‘Singing for the Brain’: A qualitative study exploring the health and well-being benefits of singing for people with dementia and their carers. (Dementia, 2016, 15(6) p. 1326-1339)

Dementia has detrimental effects on cognitive, psychological and behavioural functioning, as well as significant impact on those who provide care. There is a need to find suitable psychosocial interventions to help manage the condition, enhance well-being, and to provide support for caregivers. This study explored the impact of Singing for the Brain™, an intervention based on group singing activities developed by The Alzheimer’s Society for people with dementia and their carers. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with people with dementia and their carers. Ten interviews involving 20 participants were analysed thematically. Social inclusiveness and improvements in relationships, memory and mood were found to be especially important to participants. As well as enjoying the sessions, participants found that attending Singing for the Brain™ helped in accepting and coping with dementia.

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Nutritional Status of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Their Caregivers. (J Alzheimers Dis. 2016 18;54(4) p. 1619-1627)

Objective of this stusy was to provide an assessment of nutritional status of patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) living at home and of their caregivers by means of Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), and to explore the influence of different factors on nutrition. Concludes that corrective measures should be taken in order to early identify nutritional deficiencies and risk of malnutrition observed with high rate in both groups of AD patients and their caregivers; in these subjects a nutrition education program and intervention policies are mandatory to restore nutritional status.

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Knowledge evaluation in dementia care networks: a mixed-methods analysis of knowledge evaluation strategies and the success of informing family caregivers about dementia support services. (Int J Ment Health Syst, 2016, vol 10 p. 69)

In general, most people with dementia living in the community are served by family caregivers at home. A similar situation is found in Germany. One primary goal of dementia care networks is to provide information on support services available to these caregiving relatives of people with dementia via knowledge management. The evaluation of knowledge management tools and processes for dementia care networks is relevant to their performance in successfully achieving information goals.

The studied tools, processes and potential barriers related to knowledge evaluation contribute to the development and optimization of knowledge evaluation strategies for use in dementia care networks. Furthermore, the mixed-methods results indicate that highly formalized dementia care networks are especially successful in providing information to family members caring for people with dementia via knowledge management.

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Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy for nutritional support in dementia patients. (Aging clinical and experimental research, 2016, 28(5) p. 983-989)

A link between aging, dementia and malnutrition is established and leads to poor prognosis. Endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is used without clear benefit on survival, nutritional status or quality of life. This work aims to assess the effectiveness of PEG-feeding for nutritional support in patients with dementia. Study concludes that PEG should be considered on an individual basis in patients with moderate-severe dementia when risk of malnutrition and aspiration is present.

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Influence of personality on depression, burden, and health-related quality of life in family caregivers of persons with dementia. (Int Psychogeriatr, 2016, p. 1-11)

Personality may predispose family caregivers to experience caregiving differently in similar situations and influence the outcomes of caregiving. A limited body of research has examined the role of some personality traits for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among family caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD) in relation to burden and depression.

Personality traits can influence caregiving outcomes and be viewed as an individual resource of the caregiver. A family caregiver’s personality characteristics need to be assessed for tailoring support programs to get the optimal benefits from caregiver interventions.

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Nurses can lead on reducing litigation claims by avoiding preventable harm: Tips for ensuring patient and staff safety while cutting costs. (Nursing Management. 2016, 23(7) p.8-9)

More than 15,000 claims were made against the NHS in England in 2015-16 for incidents involving patient harm, clinical negligence and non-clinical injuries or accidents, according to the NHS Litigation Authority’s (NHS LA) latest annual report.

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Theory of Constraints: What Can We Learn to Support the Nursing Workforce? (J Nurs Admin, 2016, 46(11) p. 558-560)

Demand for nurses is influenced by many factors. Labor statistics and health services literature reveal current and predicted supply gaps in meeting this demand. One strategy in response can be drawn from manufacturing industries. This column suggests the application of the Theory of Constraints in efforts to relieve bottlenecks in producing and retaining nurse labor.

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Using Publicly Reported Nursing-Sensitive Screening Indicators to Measure Hospital Performance: The Netherlands Experience in 2011. (Nursing Research. 65(5), p 362–370)

The aims of this study were to examine hospital performance based on nursing-sensitive screening indicators and to assess associations with hospital characteristics and nursing-sensitive outcomes for patients. The findings of this paper suggest that nursing-sensitive screening indicators may be relevant measures for benchmarking nursing quality in hospitals. Time-trend studies are required to support our findings and to further investigate relations with nursing-sensitive outcomes.

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