Caring For Caregivers Pays Off In Alzheimer’s Fight

July 29, 2014

Caregivers play one of the most essential roles after a loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  Far too often these caregivers are overstressed, lacking sleep while attempting to juggle multiple life challenges.  However, recent progress has been made in taking care of the caretakers.

A program was developed close to two years ago called Strategies for Relatives (START) where 260 family caregivers were entered. This program included education about caregiving, dementia, caregiver stress and where to get emotional support while taking care of a loved one.  It also provided education on one of the most difficult challenges that caregivers face:  managing dementia patients mood swings.

At the recent Alzheimer’s Association International conference in Copenhagen, results of the new program were released.  Caregivers who took part in the START program saw measurements of depression and anxiety, and costs for care go down.  While the results of this program were incredibly promising, more needs to be done to help caregivers.

An interesting statistic is how much women carry the heavy load of caregiving.  One study found 20 percent of women cut their working hours from full-time to part-time while caring for a loved one.  This same study found 65 percent of caregivers for loved ones living with dementia were women.  Women will continue to be the predominant caregivers of their loved ones as they age.

“Family caregivers for people with Alzheimer’s or another dementia require tailored, affordable interventions to enable them to cope without becoming depressed, which is bad for the caregiver and also for the person they are caring for,”said Gill Livingston of University College London.

To find out more about this study, please click here.