Hazzan, Afeez Abiola, et al. "Association between caregiver quality of life and the care provided to persons with Alzheimer's disease." Journal of Systemic Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017, pp. 1-5. BioMed Central. Accessed 15 July 2017. In this journal article, the research group explains that Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes cognitive and functional declines that subjects the caregivers to the mental stress of losing the person they once knew as well as physical stress of providing nursing care such as dressing and toileting. The quality of life for these caregivers is much lower than caregivers of patients with non-dementia diagnosis. Their research also shows that AD caregivers show a decrease in work performance when working …show more content…
"Caregiver Perceptions Regarding the Measurement of Level and Quality of Care in Alzheimer's Disease." BMC Nursing, vol. 14, no. 54, 2015, pp. 214-22. MEDLINE. Accessed 15 July 2017. This journal article from a group of researchers explored how caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects the lives of private, in-home caregivers, what they struggle with as a group and what physicians feel is needed to assist caregivers. This support is needed to decrease their risk of multiple health issues often brought on by caregiver strain. Support was also needed to maintain their quality of life. Grocery shopping, medication administration, help with finances and basic to extensive help with activities of daily living is among the multitude of tasks the caregiver must assist with. When 21 caregivers caring for a loved one with AD were polled, many of them reported the same needs. Among these needs were requests for, a good night's sleep, uninterrupted, social support in navigating resources for care assistance and a regular respite schedule to avoid burn out. Physicians polled felt persons with AD should get more support services from government run agencies and that there should be more community based social service and health based programs for persons with dementia. From this research we can assume that transitioning to long term care is necessary when the patient no longer is aware they are in their home vs a long term care facility, the caregiver can no …show more content…
"Predictors of Patient Self-Ratings of Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease." American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 10, 19 Oct. 2011, pp. 881-90. US National Library of Medicine Pub Med. Accessed 15 July 2017. This research study group compared quality of life (QOL) scores of Alzheimer's patients with that of their caregivers. When caregivers were studied for depression, anxiety and caregiver fatigue they often correlated with the scores of their loved one. When caregivers had good social support and coping mechanisms, their loved ones showed less depression and anxiety. The study showed good coping mechanisms and social support for the caregiver often correlated into better QOL for the loved one with AD. Patients with higher depressive symptom scores almost always equated lower QOL scoring for both caregiver and patient. Cognitive impairment did not have nearly the impact on QOL scores that caregiver fatigue had. This shows us that the better support system the caregiver has, the less anxiety and depression both caregiver and patient may suffer and their quality of life affected. This research confirms the importance of treating the caregiver as an extension of the AD patient whose needs will need to be met or will likely have negative affect on their ability to deliver good safe care to their loved