International Perspectives on Nonpharmacological Best Practices for Dementia Family Caregivers: A Review

Abstract

This review begins by highlighting the fact that dementia is truly a global problem at this time, with incidence and prevalence rates rising rapidly in most parts of the world and only expected to increase. Along with this comes the growing demand for programs and services targeted to support both the person with dementia and his or her family caregivers. Around the globe such programs are being developed, evaluated, and put into practice, with government funding and needed infrastructures to support them. However, the many pressing needs of family caregivers for services to reduce their burden and improve quality of life for themselves and their relative far outstrip available programs—even in highly developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. This is even more so the case in less developed countries and regions such as China, India, Africa, and South and Central America. We conducted an extensive search of existing databases and publications related to this topic, and in this article we both review and critique existing programs and service models. There are descriptive sections on evidence-based programs and practices, as well as discussion of promising areas for future research. In addition, we discuss some of the formidable barriers that prevent or delay access to care in even the more developed countries. Finally, we conclude with a set of recommendations that we believe will enhance growth and productivity in this field.

Keywords:

• aging
• Alzheimer's disease
• carers
• caregivers
• caregiving
• dementia
• nonpharmacological treatments

Acknowledgments

Portions of this article are adapted from a report on caregivers submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2011 by several of the authors of this article. This material is used with WHO permission. Preparation of this article was supported partially by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PSI2009-08132) and by the resources of the Stanford Geriatric Education Center (UB4HP19049).