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Copyright of Swiss Journal of Sociology / Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The aim of the study was to observe whether the Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective in easing the life burdens, alleviating mental depression and also improving the quality of life of female caregivers of Alzheimer's patients Materials and Methods: In this investigation, the quasi- experimental method was used. In this research, statistical society is women caregivers that they are members of Alzheimer's association. For this purpose, 20 of the women caregivers of Iranian Alzheimer's association, 10 of experimental group and 10 of control group, were selected. The methods of sampling were according to the type of available samples and were placed randomly in the two groups of experimental and control subjects. Eight therapy sessions were held and these two groups were asked by the researchers to respond to the Quality of Life questionnaire (SF-36), Burden of Care Givers questionnaire (CBI) and Hamilton questionnaire. These replies were gathered by researches once before the beginning of each session, once at the end of each therapy session and also once 2 months after the end of the therapy was completed. For analyzing has been used SPSS-16. The Covariance test and Wilcoxon test were used to analyze the gathered data. Results: The observed findings in the 2-month follow ups show that this therapy has long term effects on depression and easing the burden of life, but it has minimal to no long term effect on the improvement of the quality of lives of study subjects. Conclusion: The results indicate that (MBCT) is, in fact, effective in improving the quality of life and reducing the depression and burden of lives of the female caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes understanding women caregivers from community-based organizations, their strategies (for capitalization of experience and professionalization and training) and their expectations about their caregiving work in an empirical study based on in-depth interviews. The intention is to problematize some explanations that circulate regarding the participation of women in the community environment based on 'altruism'. The results that are presented are based on a larger study that covers the modality under which community organizations provide caregiving services to broad sectors of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into the use of images of women in the history of the U.S. in the classroom. It discusses how women are portrayed in women's roles such as wives, mothers, and caregivers and the lack of knowledge about women's contribution to U.S. history. It talks about the development of civic equity in students and the diversification on the content and images used in curricula. It also presents a resource list of images of women that may be used by teachers.

Copyright of Revista Estudos Feministas is the property of Revista Estudos Feministas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Caregiving research has not accounted for increasingly diverse and complex marital and family histories of older Americans. The authors examined social relations and care-specific positive and negative support networks among late-life remarried wife dementia caregivers (N = 61) to determine associations among network structure, relationship quality with and support received from network members, and global assessments of family and stepfamily disagreement on caregiver well-being. Own family and friends predominated in the social relations and positive networks. Although over half (54%) of respondents included a stepfamily member in their positive networks, stepchildren comprised the largest group (35%) in the negative networks. Larger negative networks and actively negative interactions were related to greater caregiver burden, and more global disagreement with stepfamily was associated with greater depression and burden. The findings illustrate the complex nature of support and the value of targeted examinations of caregiving support dynamics among late-life remarried older adults and stepfamilies facing health demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article reports on findings from microethnographic research that examined the lived reality of women caregivers through detailed observation of their everyday, embodied experiences. The research, which was rooted in the trend in social gerontology to emphasize subjective experience, focused on five women who were providing care to an older adult with a chronic illness or impairment. Four of the five women were caring for a spouse; one was caring for a parent. Observing the women's daily realities revealed tensions and contradictions between their subjective lived experiences and the pressures of the system in which they were functioning. The data revealed a caregiver habitus characterized by the performance of emotional labor. Performance was visible through dissonance between the caregivers' verbal and nonverbal expressions, and pointed to a high degree of emotion and body management. The women consistently put aside their own needs, in what can be considered a divestment in health capital. There was also evidence of merging between the caregiver and care receiver, made visible through tandem movements. The findings lead to implications for practice and for future aging research, including the benefits of observation for enhancing understanding of clients' experiences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Chou Y-C, Kröger T, Chiao C, Pu C-Y. Well-being among employed and non-employed caregiving women in Taiwan This study addressed various groups of non-employed/employed and non-caring/caring women in Taiwan. Data from the 2006 National Taiwanese Women Survey (at age 16-64, n= 6,017) were analysed to determine whether there are differences in terms of well-being, as measured by self-rated health and family life satisfaction, between women who work and/or care and between different carer groups. Other factors associated with well-being of carers of young children ( n= 1,697) were also analysed. The results showed that non-employed carers of disabled adults stood out as the most disadvantaged group. However, the importance of work has been replaced by support among carers of young children. This study suggests that unpaid carers, particularly carers of disabled adults who are non-employed, ought to be supported by policies. To improve carers' well-being, care-work reconciliation among working-age women needs to be included in the future care scheme in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care services help women who are mothers or daughters to combine caregiving and gainful employment. While Swedish childcare policy expanded services to meet the needs of children and working mothers, this discourse analysis of Swedish eldercare policy shows that the expansion of eldercare services from the 1950s to the end of 1970s was justified solely on the basis of older people's needs. The lack of connection in policy documents between the needs of working daughters and the provision of eldercare services made it easier to cut services beginning in the 1980s, without considering the consequences for family members. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

South Africa's approach to care provision in the era of HIV/AIDS is home- and community-based care, but in reality care for ill people in the home is provided on an unpaid basis, predominantly by women. But how much do they spend on this care work, in time and money? And what economic consequences does this policy have, particularly for poorer women? This article is based on findings from a study that focuses on unpaid care provision within the home for those in late-stage HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and specifically on the costs of such provision. The findings show that female caregivers are bearing the bulk of the costs of care provision for ill people within the home on an unpaid basis. Home-based care is cost-effective for the provincial government but not for unpaid caregivers who are subsidizing the provincial economy. While hospital care for people with HIV/AIDS has been capped, home-based care services have not been increased to a commensurate level. Unpaid caregivers and ill people within the home are largely disconnected from the health system. The analysis clearly shows that the home-based care policy is not resulting in appropriate or sufficient support for these individuals in need and needs to be revised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As immigrant groups grow older, host societies are faced with new challenges of integration. In a labor market that is structured by ethnicity and gender, the demand for culturally competent care provides immigrant women with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs within the care sector. This article analyzes 20 in-depth interviews with immigrant women from 13 countries who are entrepreneurs in home-help services for elderly people. The article analyzes the complex motives behind the women's entrepreneurship. Ethnic entrepreneurship has mainly been approached as a way for immigrants to survive in the labor market-the disadvantage theory-or as a means to create job opportunities for co-ethnics within ethnic economies. Opposed to this, three main motives appear in the analysis: first, the processes of ethnic and gender sorting in the care sector; second, ethnic strategies in the labor market; and third, the wish to gain independence and improve the quality of care. Only in a few cases is ethnic entrepreneurship practiced within ethnic economies; instead, it is mainly found within cross-cultural economies, consisting of employees and customers of mixed origin who are embedded in a majority society. The women construct their ethnic identities to compete in the segmented Swedish labor market by creating ethnic identities of care that are adjusted to meet the needs of their customers in a cross-cultural society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will present a study examining the social and working conditions of immigrant women who work in the family and the field of elderly people's assistance in private houses in Italy. The research will focus on categories such as social class, “race”, and gender, variables that stratify and naturalize the inequalities inbred in the social relations between immigrant caregivers and the families they work for. I will seek to illustrate through these perspectives how an affective and family life of their own is denied to these care workers. I will further investigate how the relationship between the care worker's body and the elderly care receiver's body becomes structured and characterized each time differently on the basis of gender. Moreover, I will take a closer look at the relationship of the female worker with her own body and disease, and also at the relationship of the care worker with death and money. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses a phenomenological method to examine Taiwanese women's care giving experiences of their brothers or sisters with Cerebral Palsy and how they negotiated daughter-mother relationships when care giving for a sibling with CP. Drawing on stories shared by six women from the northern and the middle part of Taiwan who were recruited via social service agencies and snowball sampling, the results of this study suggest that these sisters internalized the cultural norm of Shan-Shia (superior-subordinate) but also appealed for support from fathers or brothers to transform their mothers' outdated notions about ways of caring for their sibling with CP and to protect their sibling with CP from mothers' negligent and abusive behaviors. Greater attention must be given to the promotion of a more equitable sharing of caring tasks by men and women in the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Treball Social is the property of Col·legi Oficial de TreballSocial de Catalunya and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using data from the 2004 wave of the National Long-Term Care Survey, we examined how negative and positive caregiving experiences differ by caregivers' gender and relationship to care recipients. We further considered how their caregiving experiences are affected by caregivers' demographic characteristics, care recipients' problem behavior and dependency, caregivers' involvement, reciprocal help from care recipients, and social support available for caregivers. We found that female and adult-child caregivers, in general, reported having had more negative experiences than male and spouse caregivers, respectively. Wife caregivers were least likely to report positive experiences. We also found different risk factors for negative and positive caregiving experiences, and these factors varied depending on caregivers' gender and relationship to the care recipient. The findings underscore the heterogeneity of caregiving experiences. To sustain informal care, state and local agencies need to tailor services to wife, husband, daughter, and son caregivers' unique needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay investigates the contested processes through which gender and racial ideologies are practised and thereby place specific groups of women in particular gendered and racialized labour markets. The migration of female live-in care workers to Taiwan exemplifies how gender and racial ideologies are embodied in everyday practices that justify the paid care work done by these women and that produce their subordinate status. In this essay, I take the problematic of representation of ‘migrant care workers’ as a point of entry, to investigate how a gendered-racialized ideology is utilized to legitimate and naturalize the gendered-racialized division of care labour within the global capitalist context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research examined the proposal that ineffective responses to common interpersonal problems disrupt youths' relationships, which, in turn, contributes to depression during adolescence. Youth (86 girls, 81 boys; M age = 12.41, SD = 1.19) and their primary female caregivers participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. Youth completed a measure assessing interpersonal stress responses; youth and caregivers completed semi-structured interviews assessing youths' life stress and psychopathology. Consistent with the hypothesized model, ineffective stress responses (low levels of effortful engagement, high levels of involuntary engagement and disengagement) predicted the generation of subsequent interpersonal stress, which partially accounted for the association between stress responses and depression over time. Moreover, results revealed that self-generated interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal stress, predicted depression, and that this explanatory model was specific to the prediction of depression but not anxiety. This research builds on interpersonal stress generation models of depression, and highlights the importance of implementing depression-focused intervention programs that promote effective stress responses and adaptive interpersonal relationships during adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discute diferentes aspectos relacionados con el trabajo del cuidado en el contexto familiar, especialmente la presencia femenina, tanto en el papel de proveedora de cuidado como en el de receptora. La autora analiza el papel de ambos géneros en la actividad del cuidado, tomando en cuenta las desigualdades en la distribución de tareas.

El artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación sobre cuidados a ancianos hospitalizados llevada a cabo entre abril de 2004 y enero de 2005 en el Servicio de Geriatría del Hospital Regional Lic. Adolfo López Mateos de ciudad de México, México. La investigación se propuso realizar un perfil de los trabajadores del cuidado de ancianos, así como estudiar el papel de la mujer en este campo

The aim of this study is to analyse variations in physical health among different groups of women according to their work situation: formal or informal caregivers, women employed outside the home who are not carers, and housewives. Three hundred and eight middle class women, over the age of 46, were chosen to take part in this study. Findings show that informal caregivers reported worse health than workers; there are no differences in health between the two types of carers. There is a significant correlation with a moderate to high effect size between anxiety and physical health (measured according to number of physical complaints) in female caregivers versus non caregivers. Regarding self-esteem, there are significant differences in self-esteem between caregivers and the other two participating groups, with significantly lower levels in the former and high effect sizes. The conclusion is that, in the case of women, care giving seems to have a negative effect on health (measured according to number of physical complaints), regardless of where the specific caring takes place, when compared to other women who are not carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emotional intelligence of a sample of 59 women caregivers (M age = 51.1 yr.) with depressive symptoms was compared with that of a sample of adult women from tbe general population (M age = 50.7 yr.). No group differences were observed on the Trait Meta-Mood Scale's three dimensions of emotional intelligence across age, socioeconomic status, or education level. Compared with the general population sample, tbe caregivers group scored significantly lower on Attention to Feelings and Mood Repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work focuses on a specific number of women who have left their memories as a proof for mankind that has always needed to keep their testimonies alive. Our main interest is to maintain the remembrances from the past until today, capturing the essential meanings of their lives. We believe it is appropriate to claim that although women's experiences during the Holocaust were not quite different from those of men, their stories are certainly worthy of being rescued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. In Argentina, one third of all employed women, but only 3 per cent of all employed men, are care workers. Their relative pay and working conditions depend not only on applicable labour market regulations (and enforcement) but also, crucially, on the organization of care service provision, including the degree of public-sector engagement in the provision of particular services, the different care providers, and the locus of care provision (institutional vs. other contexts, e.g. households). Comparing two childcare-related occupations (early-education teaching and domestic service), the author argues that those two - possibly mutually reinforcing - dimensions intersect to explain differences between care workers' labour market positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of female caregivers’ oral health literacy with their knowledge, behaviors, and the reported oral health status of their young children. Data on caregivers’ literacy, knowledge, behaviors, and children’s oral health status were used from structured interviews with 1158 caregiver/child dyads from a low-income population. Literacy was measured with REALD-30. Caregivers’ and children’s median ages were 25 yrs (range = 17-65) and 15 mos (range = 1-59), respectively. The mean literacy score was 15.8 (SD = 5.3; range = 1-30). Adjusted for age, education, and number of children, low literacy scores (< 13 REALD-30) were associated with decreased knowledge (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.41, 2.45) and poorer reported oral health status (OR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.02, 2.05). Lower caregiver literacy was associated with deleterious oral health behaviors, including nighttime bottle use and no daily brushing/cleaning. Caregiver oral health literacy has a multidimensional impact on reported oral health outcomes in infants and young children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD) is a disorder of progressive muscle weakness that causes an increasing need for assistance with activities of daily living. Our objective was to assess the psychosocial health and contributing factors among female caregivers in families with DBMD. We conducted a survey of adult women among families with DBMD in the United States (US) from June 2006 through January 2007, collecting data related to the care recipient, perception of caregiving demands, personal factors, and socio-ecologic factors. Life satisfaction, stress, and distress were assessed as outcomes. Existing validated instruments were used when available. We received responses from 1238 women who were caring for someone with DBMD, 24.2% of whom were caring for two or more people with DBMD. Caregivers were more likely to be married/cohabitating than women in the general US population, and a high level of resiliency was reported by 89.3% of caregivers. However, the rate of serious psychological distress was significantly higher among caregivers than among the general population. Likewise, 46.4% reported a high level of stress, and only 61.7% reported that they were satisfied with their life. A high level of caregiving demands based on the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) was reported by 50.4% of caregivers. The post-ambulatory phase of DBMD was associated with decreased social support and increased ZBI scores. In multivariate logistic regression modelling, life satisfaction was dependent on high social support, high resiliency, high income, and form of DBMD. Distress and high stress were predicted by low resiliency, low social support, and low income. Employment outside of the home was also a predictor of high stress. Interventions focused on resiliency and social support are likely to improve the quality of life of DBMD caregivers, and perhaps caregivers of children with other disabilities or special health care needs as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the tensions between autonomy and expectations of mother-caregivers, in the context of normative trends in post-separation parenting law. Going back to first principles of feminism, the article asks what scope for autonomy there is for modern mothers in the face of socio-legal norms that prioritise shared parenting. The very relationship between mother-caregivers and children illustrates the important connection between relationships and autonomy: the caregiving that mothers provide enables children to become autonomous persons yet, at the same time, this caregiving relationship constrains maternal autonomy. In the current context that encourages shared parenting, the potential for maternal autonomy may be even more compromised—a deep irony in a supposedly post-feminist era. A responsible mother is now expected to nurture a child’s relationship with the father, unless he is proven to be harmful. The ability of women to be at all autonomous from the fathers of their children in the face of this normative expectation is dubious, even when the adults live separately. Moreover, the dominance of the heterosexual and patriarchal family—always a challenge for women’s autonomy—is reproduced in this imposition of equal parenting in the name of children’s rights. This article uses a contextual approach to relational autonomy to point to an approach that might challenge the normative climate of shared parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of heart failure continues to rise as innovative treatments are developed. Despite life-prolonging interventions, morbidity and mortality in patients younger than 65 remain high. Few studies have focused on this younger cohort and/or their family caregivers as they navigate the complex illness trajectories manifested in heart failure. Instrumental case studies were employed to present exemplars for each of the five identified heart failure trajectories. Culling data from a longitudinal study of female spousal caregivers, each case study represents a wife's discussion of caring for a husband (<65 years) in response to the husband's changing heart failure trajectory. The goal of medical stability and the notion of uncertainty permeate throughout the case studies. Suggestions for supporting these wives are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our goal in this article is to contribute to a differentiated analysis of paid caring work by considering whether and how women's experiences of such work is shaped by their employment status (for example, self-employed versus employee) and the nature of care provided (direct or indirect). Self-employed care workers have not been widely studied compared with other types of care workers, such as employees providing domestic or childcare in private firms or private homes. Yet their experiences may be quite distinct. Existing research suggests that self-employed workers earn less than employees and are often excluded from employment protection. Nonetheless, they often report greater autonomy and job satisfaction in their day-to-day work. Understanding more about the experiences of self-employed caregivers is thus important for enriching existing theory, research and policy on the marketization of care. Addressing this gap, our article explores the working conditions, pay and levels of satisfaction of care workers who are self-employed. We draw on interviews from a small-scale study of Canadian women engaged in providing direct care (for example, childcare) and indirect care (for example, cleaning). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While caregiving in northern, rural and remote communities takes place in the context of conditions unique to smaller communities, caregivers live with social policies that are shaped by urban norms rather than rural realities. In times of economic decline and government cuts rural issues of limited services and infrastructure as well as dependency on a single industry can lead to unemployment, community and family instability, and a decline in health and well-being. During these times caregivers face increased pressure to voluntarily fill the gaps left by service cuts. Research with women caregivers in four communities in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada explores the experiences of caring and the social, geographic, economic and political contexts within which the caregiving occurs. The discourse of economic efficiencies that speaks solely to the monetary value of care is contrasted with the human condition of connectedness and relationships. These two contradictory perspectives are uncovered during interviews with women caregivers and analyzed in the framework of Olena Hankivsky's discussion of an ethic of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Caregiving across different cultures has been perceived conventionally as a private or family responsibility, predominantly performed by women who accept their caregiving as part of their gender role. Aim: This study aimed to design, deliver, and evaluate an elderly training programme for women by assessing their knowledge, attitudes and skills as a lay caregiver. Encouraging the women to find suitable positions for employment in private or governmental institutions was the further objective of the study. Design: The study was a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test post-test design. Methods: The study was conducted in a solidarity centre for women and in a nursing home for the elderly. The sample covered 120 women selected from the community by convenience sampling. Data were gathered through pre- and post-test evaluation and observation forms in 2 May-22 December 2005. The training programme consisted of 230 h of didactic sessions, demonstrations and clinical practices. Findings: The mean change in the participants' knowledge score (pre-test: 41.44 ± 0.92; post-test: 71.16 ± 1.34) demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in their knowledge. According to clinical observations, most of them displayed satisfactory caring and communication skills towards the elderly. Virtually all participants reported increased skill, knowledge and confidence. Conclusion: The developed training programme was effective, resulting in an increased knowledge, the acquisition of good attitudes towards the elderly, and performing satisfactory caring and communication skills. Similar community-based programmes managed by nurses are recommended to support non-professional caregivers. The research is not only an innovative but also a revolutionary model to promote women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of contesting the mainstream biomedical models of health communication, the culture-centered approach suggests dialogic research methodologies to coconstruct meanings of health through direct engagement with cultural communities. In this project, we engaged in in-depth interviews and informal conversations with elderly Druze women and their caregiver daughters to develop an understanding of the intersections of religion and health meanings in the context of aging women in this Lebanese community. Attending to the cultural constructions of health, particularly in religious contexts, opens up the discursive spaces of health communication to alternative cosmologies of health, illness, healing, and curing. Four themes emerged as a result of our grounded theory analysis: health as faith; mistrust, privacy, and modern medicine; polymorphic health experiences; and health as structure. These themes serve as the backdrop for playing out the competing tensions between the local and the global in the realm of interpretations of health meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caregiving in Japan is defined as predominately a woman's responsibility. However, caregiving has been largely understudied as a lived experience or within a cultural frame of reference. In an estimated 50% of Japanese households, women are currently caregivers of one or more family members. However, the relative absence of information on their experiences has held back the development of programs and services to support their caregiving. In this article, I present results of a grounded-theory study that explored the experiences of Japanese working women caregivers as they cared for the elderly family member in their home. I interviewed 11 women caregivers including 6 daughters and 5 daughters-in-law. I generated a substantive grounded theory, resulting in the identification of the core concept of "releasing self," which included three dimensions: laughing away, self-belief, and losing enthusiasm for the elderly and elderly care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one about the provision of care for people with dementia and other severe illnesses in China, another on a study about Chinese women caring for older family members with dementia and living in the San Francisco Bay Area and one about dementia care in China.

Little is known about Chinese American dementia caregivers’ psychological and physical response to caregiving. In the present study, descriptive information is presented for a sample of 47 Chinese American dementia caregivers on a variety of psychosocial measures, including measures of depressive symptoms, overall perceived stress, stress specific to caregiving, coping, positive aspects of caregiving, caregiving self-efficacy, and belief in Asian values. Additionally, the association between these psychosocial factors and diurnal cortisol patterns is examined. Generally speaking, these caregivers were found to report significant levels of distress (e.g., depressive symptoms) but also showed indications of resiliency, as suggested by their high levels of self-efficacy, positive caregiving experiences, and problem solving. Stronger beliefs in Asian values were associated with more normal cortisol patterns, less depressive symptoms, and greater self-efficacy, highlighting the salience of culture in shaping the caregiving experience of Chinese Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Three- to 4-month-old infants reared by female caregivers display a spontaneous preference for individual adult women''s over men''s faces. Here we report that this preference extends to prototype girl over boy faces. The findings suggest transfer of gender-diagnostic facial information from individual adult to prototype child faces. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

de la cuesta-benjumea c. (2010) The legitimacy of rest: conditions for the relief of burden in advanced dementia care-giving. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66(5), 988–998. Title. The legitimacy of rest: conditions for the relief of burden in advanced dementia care-giving. Aim. This paper is a report of a study conducted to identify the conditions that favour the relief of the burden of female caregivers of relatives with advanced dementia. Background. Respite services are a response to caregivers’ needs for rest. Although they are wanted and needed services, caregivers do not always have access to or use them. The need for a caregiver-centred approach to relieving the burden of care is a conclusion which respite researchers are increasingly reaching. Method. Grounded theory was chosen as the research strategy. Twenty-two female primary caregivers of relatives with advanced dementia participated in semi-structured interviews between November 2006 and May 2008 in Spain. Data collection was guided by the emergent analysis and ceased when no more relevant variations in the categories were found. Findings. While having a rest is legislated as a right in civil and religious laws in family care in Spain, it should meet certain conditions that in the caregiver’s eyes legitimate it. In the present study these were: (i) when there is no abandonment, (ii) when others are not harmed, (iii) when having a rest is obligatory and (iv) when having a rest is acknowledged. Conclusion. Many caregivers experience ambivalence over accepting respite. Nurses should assess caregivers’ situations and promote context-specific interventions and a relief of burden free from guilt. Exploration of the conditions that favour the relief of burden within other cultural and caregiver groups is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the separate and combined effects of caregiver status and high stress on mortality risk over 8 years in elderly women. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study conducted in four U.S. communities followed from 1999/01 (baseline) to December 31, 2007. SETTING: Home-based interviews. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred seventy-five caregiver and 694 noncaregiver participants from the Caregiver-Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (Caregiver-SOF) who participated in the baseline Caregiver-SOF interview. MEASUREMENTS: Caregiver status was based on SOF respondents' self-report of performing one or more instrumental or basic activities of daily living for a relative or friend with impairments. Two measures of stress were used: Perceived Stress Scale and stress related to caregiving tasks. All-cause mortality was the outcome. RESULTS: Caregivers were more stressed than noncaregivers; 19.7% of caregivers and 27.4% of noncaregivers died. Mortality was lower in caregivers than noncaregivers (adjusted hazard ratio, (AHR)=0.74, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.56–0.89). High-stress respondents had greater mortality risk than low-stress respondents over the first 3 years of follow-up (AHR=1.81, 95% CI=1.16–2.82) but not in later years. Likewise, high-stress caregivers and noncaregivers had higher mortality risk than low-stress noncaregivers, although low-stress caregivers had significantly lower mortality than did noncaregivers, whether perceived stress or caregiving-related stress was measured (AHR=0.67 and 0.57). Similar results were observed in analyses comparing spouse caregivers with married noncaregivers. CONCLUSION: Short-term effects of stress, not caregiving per se, may increase the risk of health decline in older caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Telomerase activity plays an essential role in cell survival, by lengthening telomeres and promoting cell growth and longevity. It is now possible to quantify the low levels of telomerase activity in human leukocytes. Low basal telomerase activity has been related to chronic stress in people and to chronic glucocorticoid exposure in vitro. Here we test whether leukocyte telomerase activity changes under acute psychological stress. We exposed 44 elderly women, including 22 high stress dementia caregivers and 22 matched low stress controls, to a brief laboratory psychological stressor, while examining changes in telomerase activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). At baseline, caregivers had lower telomerase activity levels than controls, but during stress telomerase activity increased similarly in both groups. Across the entire sample, subsequent telomerase activity increased by 18% one hour after the end of the stressor (p <0.01). The increase in telomerase activity was independent of changes in numbers or percentages of monocytes, lymphocytes, and specific T cell types, although we cannot fully rule out some potential contribution from immune cell redistribution in the change in telomerase activity. Telomerase activity increases were associated with greater cortisol increases in response to the stressor. Lastly, psychological response to the tasks (greater threat perception) was also related to greater telomerase activity increases in controls. These findings uncover novel relationships of dynamic telomerase activity with exposure to an acute stressor, and with two classic aspects of the stress response – perceived psychological stress and neuroendocrine (cortisol) responses to the stressor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This qualitative study explores spouse caregivers' understanding of and responses to partners with dementia. Six wives who had been providing care to their husbands in the community for at least two years were interviewed. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and four interconnected themes were proposed: same person or different; relational change; emotional responses to behaviours; and impact on day-to-day life. Participants' sense of continuity with the past was suggested to influence each theme. The construct of continuity was proposed to be elastic, with both intra-psychic and inter-psychic factors impacting upon its elasticity. Broadly, a sense of continuity seemed to be associated with better adjustment to caregiving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychosocial context of bereavement for older women who were caregivers for a spouse with advanced cancer was explored qualitatively with 13 older women. Interviews and diaries were analyzed using constant comparison. The psychosocial context emerged as the intrapersonal: exhaustion, loneliness, pain, and recovering physical health; the interpersonal: finding a new way through both supportive and difficult relationships; and the community/societal: a loss of identity, pressure to move on, financial concerns, and relying on formal supports. The psychosocial context of bereavement for older women who were caregivers is uniquely challenging and must be considered when providing care and programs of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified the psychosocial stressors of low-income families who were affected by HIV/AIDS in Alabama. Methods consisted of personal interviews with 12 social workers at public agencies and a review of social work charts for 80 clients at an HIV clinic for mothers and children. The combined results indicated that families were likely to experience housing instability, family breakdown, mental illness, behavioral problems, and stigma. Younger children typically lived with their mothers, while older biological children often resided with relatives or in foster care. Social workers perceived mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety to be common among women caregivers. Behavioral problems and learning difficulties were frequently reported among children but children who were not living with HIV/AIDS did not have the same access to health care and social services as their siblings who were living with HIV/AIDS. This outcome is relevant to social workers because the children who were affected by HIV/AIDS outnumbered the children who were living with HIV/AIDS by a ratio of 3 to 1. Findings suggest that a model of care that involves funding for family-centered services for caregivers and children would provide a useful foundation for building stronger, more resilient families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]