Characteristics and Correlates of Caregivers' Perceptions of Their Family Members' Memory Loss.
Hairong Yu, Jennifer H Lingler, Susan M Sereika and 1 others
PMID 28448374WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers of patients with memory loss viewed the condition as serious and lasting, but felt little control over it.
Those caring for patients with poorer cognitive function believed treatments were less helpful. White caregivers perceived the memory loss as more chronic.
Key findings
01Caregivers of patients with poorer cognitive function were more likely to perceive that treatments could not help and less likely to endorse the presence of typical memory loss symptoms.
02Severity of daily hassles and White race were associated with caregivers perceiving that memory loss would last longer.
03Over 40% of caregivers identified uncontrollable factors like heredity and aging as the primary cause of memory loss, while 34.7% attributed it to medical conditions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The adapted BIPQ had not been psychometrically tested for this specific caregiver population before this study. Most participants were recruited from the community, so medical records for diagnosis or illness duration were unavailable. This is a cross-sectional secondary analysis, so it cannot establish causality between correlates and perceptions.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The study was supported by the N.I.H.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that caregivers who perceive memory loss as uncontrollable are failing to cope. The study found that these perceptions were strongly linked to the patient's actual level of cognitive impairment, suggesting their view may reflect the clinical reality rather than a lack of resilience.