ACT on Alzheimer’s Disease Curriculum

1. ACT on Alzheimer’sDisease Curriculum Module X: Caregiver Support

2. Caregiver Support • These slides are based on the Module X: Caregiver Support text • Please refer to the text for all citations, references and acknowledgments

3. Module X: Learning Objectives Upon completion of this module the student should: • Identify the difficult aspects of being a caregiver for someone who has dementia. • Demonstrate an understanding of and distinguish between activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). • Gain insight into the cost, stressors, and risks that affect caregivers, including the correlation between a caregiver’s health and well-being with the well-being of the person for whom they are caring. • Recognize services that can be used to decrease stressors.

4. Caregiving For People With Dementia

5. Caregiving For People With Dementia • Caregiving involves extraordinary care • Includes helping others with activities of daily living (ADLs) • Dressing, bathing, incontinence, and feeding • Includes helping others with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) • Shopping, meal preparation, transportation, medication management and managing finances

6. Caregiving For People With Dementia • Caregivers of those with dementia dedicate more time to care and are more heavily involved with ADLs and IADLs • Caregivers of people with dementia also face increased emotional and psychological challenges due to the difficulty in caring for a person with dementia

7. Caregiving For People With Dementia • Dementia caregivers typically are adult children, spouses or other relatives • Most caregivers are female, have some college education and devote an average of 20 hours a week providing unpaid care to someone over 50 years of age

8. Caregiving For People With Dementia • There are many physical, social, psychological, and financial risks associated with dementia caregiving • Physical risks: caregiving increases the risk of health problems • Social risks: caregivers frequently suffer from feelings of social isolation • Psychological risks: caregivers are at increased risk of depression • Financial risks: caregiving places significant financial burdens on caregivers due to lost wages and cost of care

9. Caregiver Support

10. Caregiver Support • Providing support for dementia caregivers is a societal imperative • 70% of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease live at home and the health care system could not sustain the cost of care without unpaid caregivers • In 2012, an estimated 15 million unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care

11. Caregiver Support • There is a strong correlation between the health and well-being of a caregiver and the quality of care that caregivers can provide • Such a correlation calls for assuring the availability of caregiver supports • A caregiver with a positive outlook provides better care for a longer period of time

12. Caregiver Support • Types of caregiver support include: • Information and assistance • Respite • Counseling • Support groups and education • Personal care • Homemaker/chore services • Legal or financial services • Care consultation

13. Caregiver Support • The core components of effective caregiver interventions share the following characteristics • Assessment of caregiver needs, resources and strengths • Tailor interventions to address specific needs of the caregivers • Education about the disease and behaviors • Problem solving assistance for behavior challenges • Other caregiver support including respite

14. Caregiver Support • There are four categories of empirically-supported interventions for caregiver support • Multidimensional interventions: designed to address multiple stressors for caregivers • Behavioral interventions: training caregivers to manage specific behavioral challenges • Group interventions: support groups with a limited focus are most effective • Respite services: provides time off for caregivers