Quality Of Alzheimer's Life

Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in America. It kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Alzheimer’s accounts for 70-80% of dementia cases. By the age of 65, 1 in 9 people are diagnosed and by the age of 85, 1 in 3 people will have the disease. According to the Alzheimer Association, 5 million people in American have Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s starts to form 20 years prior to being diagnosed. Learning about Alzheimer’s can help families understand how Alzheimer’s is more than just memory loss, it is an incurable mental disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is a prominent brain disease that effects a massive amount of individuals in the United States. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 60-80% of dementia cases, with no chance of being cured, prevented or decelerating over time (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014). AD is the most well-known form of dementia, causing complications in brain function in the areas of memory, thinking, and behavior (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014). In an effort to gain a deeper understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers create new knowledge about the disease, which is then distributed to the public. The goal in this information disbursement is to find new and inventive ways to treat AD, prevent AD from progressing at such a rapid pace, and aid in the quality of life in those diagnosed with AD as well as caregivers and medical professionals providing treatment to individuals’ with AD.

A major devastating and debilitating disease, Alzheimer 's is a public health issue that affects not only the United States but also countries all around the world. In 2010, there were 35.6 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Researchers and medical personnel expect this number to triple by the year 2050. The disease is costing America an exorbitant amount of money and has become a burden on families, caregivers, medical personnel, the healthcare system, and the nation’s economy. If attention is not focused on this major problem, “nursing homes will be overloaded, caregivers will be burned out, healthcare system will be overwhelmed, and federal and state budgets will be overtaxed” (Alzheimer’s Association, 2011).

According to Kim, Chang, Rose, & Kim (2011), care-giver burden has been defined as a multidimensional response to the negative appraisal and perceived stress resulting from the taking care of an ill individual (p. 846). More easily stated a care-giver is a person who assists another individual with one or more of their daily activities of living. A person who finds it necessary to care for a loved one suffering from dementia often finds the task daunting if not polarizing. The role of caregiver often times has a negative effect on the caregiver. These can include feelings of depression, isolation, fear and anger as well as the feelings of constant responsibility and social isolation (Kim et al., 2011).

The topic of this article is about the effects that Alzheimer’s has on the patients, family members/caregivers. I believe there is a grave importance in this topic to help understand the effects of this disease and possibly help farther research. This might bring a few questions to the front of this discussion. How the relationship is after a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? How does this effect the family members/caregivers? What symptoms do family members experience with Alzheimer’s patients? What factors in life play a role in developing this disease? This paper will explore these questions with the respect of these news articles.

Caregivers play a crucial role in the care of dementia patients. Providing care for dementia patients results in stress related health impacts to the caregiver. The caregivers go through a journey with the dementia patient and need a strong support system. The best approach to dementia care is for health care providers to provide information to and monitor the caregiver, in addition to the dementia patient, encourage the caregiver to take care of themselves, to seek support, and to work as a team to provide the best care for the dementia patient.

Alzheimer’s and dementia are often thought of as an old age disease. Although the most commons risk factor is age but it is not the only one. Most majority of individuals do develop symptoms as elderly, but individuals that develop onset symptoms at a younger age, below 65 are said to develop early onset dementia (Lambert, M. A., Bickel, H., Prince, M., Fratiglioni, L., Von Strauss, E., Frydecka, D., & ... Reynish, E. L., 2014). Many researchers have conducted studies on the impact of cognitive disorders, such as dementia along with Alzhiemer’s, on the affects of the nonprofessional caregiver. Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t just affect the person but the affected person’s family and friends are affected as well.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with relentlessly progressive losses in cognition, memory, and language. According to research by Herbert, Weuve, Sherr, and Evans (2013), 5.3 million people are affected by AD, and that number is expected to almost triple by the middle of the century. As cognitive decline progresses, independence and the ability to perform self-care is lost as caregivers must assume this considerable burden. Given the prevalence of AD, its devastating pathology, and its impact on loved ones and caregivers, the social impact of this disease cannot be overstated.

Alzheimer’s is a worldwide disease that many people over the age of 65 years old are diagnosed. Alzheimer’s disease is a current situation in my household the past three years. It is one of the many health issues that do not yet have a known cause or cure. In this investigative report I researched how Alzheimer’s patients affect their family caregivers. All my information was cited from the West Warwick High School research tool as well as google to find articles related to my claim. Many families around the world are going through the same struggles as my own and are seeking advice from others on how to carry on with this daily hassle. My family as well as other families are not alone. There are different ways to cope with our issues depending

Perke, Davis T. Caring for the Caregiver: A Guide to living With Alzheimer’s Disease. New

Declining health and depression are two of the largest reasons families look into assisted living homes for aging loved ones. Making sure that the healthcare needs of the elderly are met becomes a priority for every family as the roles begin to reverse from the parent being the primary caregiver of their children to the children being responsible for meeting the needs of aging parents. Diseases such Alzheimer’s and dementia are very difficult for not only the

One caregiver situation is when an adult child has to take care of their parent who has Alzheimer’s disease. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s (2013) Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders V, Alzheimer’s disease is defined a neurocognitive impairment that affects one's short and long-term memory. This progressive disease slowly takes over the body. For anyone who is taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s disease is slowly watching, his or her loved one pass away. This disease is referred to “the long goodbye” because of how the brain of the person who has the disease is long gone before he or she actually passes. Family members who take care of their loved one with Alzheimer’s disease can become burnt out from the stress that is placed upon them (Yilmaz, Turan, and Gundogar, 2009). According to Yilmaz, Turan, and Gundogar (2009), burnout is referred to as a response to strain when working with patients as a full-time caregiver. This strain causes emotional exhaustion due to the psychological and emotional demand of the job. “[Caregivers] reported that burnout was related to the gender (women reported higher burnout) and limitation in social life, poor health and a lack of positive outlook on caring” (Yilmaz et al., 2009, p. 20). Having burnout symptoms as a caregiver is a real burden at times. The burden is especially great when the patient has problem behaviors,

The primary caregiver for the Alzheimer patient is often the spouse or the adult offspring. The spouse who is also facing developmental tasks of ego integrity versus despair, can easily become depressed and disheartened by the loss of an intact partner. The spouse may also have to cope with his/her own medical needs and feel caught up in a never-ending spiral to the grave. Support groups such as the Alzheimer 's Association focus a great deal of attention on the caregiver for just these reasons. Talking about one 's circumstances and meeting others with similar concerns is very helpful in maintaining a positive perspective.

The article examines whether CBT-based family intervention reduces the subjective burden of care in carers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and produces clinical benefits in the person with Alzheimer’s disease. The study found a significant reduction in distress and depression in caregivers in the intervention group compared with control groups at post-treatment and three-month follow-up. In people with Alzheimer’s, there was a major decrease in behavioural disruption at post-treatment and a growth in activities at three-month post-treatment. The authors provided a strong theoretical basis that CBT-based family intervention can have a significant benefit in both caregivers and patients. Limitations include the small sample size, a further

There are many caregivers psychological distress related factors examined in cross-sectional studies. For example, the female caregiver has a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. However, the predictors of caregivers’ psychological distress in longitudinal studies need more investigation. The purpose of the prospective cohort study is to calculate the incidence of family caregivers of dementia patients’ psychological distress symptoms, and provide the inference of causal effect of related factors to caregiver psychological distress in order to answer the research question “ What are the predictive factors of family caregivers of dementia patients psychological distress?” The specific aims are: (1) to calculate the incidence of family caregivers