THE EFFECTS OF A SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED ALZHEIMER'S WORKBOOK ON THE BURDEN OF CARE, PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITIES, AND DEPRESSION LEVElS OF HOME CAREGIVERS OF PERSONS WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Abstract

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a chronic, long-term, debilitating, disease that currently affects millions of people worldwide. Most of the people afflicted with this disease are cared for in the home setting by family members and many do not have access to formal community education. Due to the erratic behavioral responses and steady declines in self-care abilities of persons with AD, caregivers face high degrees of physical and psychological stress. With limited options and choices, caregivers fall back on behaviors that do not preserve self-care behaviors in the person with AD, which adds to their stress. The AD workbook, designed by the author for this study, allows caregivers to plot the current abilities and future declines of the person they are caring for in the holistic mental, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual domains. This methodology provides the caregiver with choices that can be matched to individual needs and utilized as problem-solving modalities.