L M Martire

..Future research that uses such observational methods may be highly useful for understanding the effects of chronic illness on older couples...

..Future research may identify family attitudes and behaviors that stem from burden and compromise older adults' ability to recover from depression...

..Although statistically significant aggregate effects were found, they were generally small in magnitude. These findings provide guidance in developing future interventions in this area...

..These findings argue for a comprehensive assessment of the care-receiving experience that includes both care-recipient and caregiver perspectives...

..The findings of this pilot study point to the utility of a dyadic intervention approach to management of OA in late life...

..To describe the burden experienced by family caregivers of older adults with depression and to examine the positive effects on caregivers of treating late-life depression...

..However, successful treatment for depression has been associated with improvement in self-rated health and other health measures...

..Furthermore, for each of the roles of wife, mother, and employee, role-specific mastery was a mediating mechanism in the relationship between support from the role partner or partners and better well-being...

..These findings point to an aspect of role identity that can benefit well-being but that has complex effects in the context of role stress...

..The authors discuss how these findings inform current concepts of physical disability and discuss the implications for future intervention studies of late-life depression and anxiety disorders...

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..It will be important for future research to administer the MDBI to caregivers of middle-aged and older patients as well as those receiving treatment through inpatient settings or community outpatient clinics...

..Most deaths in the United States occur among older persons who have 1 or more disabling conditions. As a result, many deaths are preceded by an extended period during which family members provide care to their disabled relative...

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..To address these discrepancies, we test this association using the most extensive array of sociodemographic and physical health control variables ever studied, to our knowledge, in a large population-based sample of elderly individuals...

..These findings suggest that heightened physiological stress caused by exposure to a loved one's suffering may be one pathway to caregivers' increased risk for cardiovascular disease...

..There were also gender differences, such that caregiving wives, in particular, benefited from their husband's willingness to express vulnerable (e.g., anxiety, sadness) and interpersonal emotions...

..To assess the efficacy of two psychosocial interventions for caregivers of older persons with spinal cord injury (SCI)...

..Medical treatment of patients that maintain or improve memory but do not address suffering may have little impact on the caregiver. Alzheimer disease patient suffering should be systematically assessed and treated by clinicians...

..We conclude with a discussion of implications and future directions for clinical intervention, research, and policy...

..To assess the effects of suffering in a spouse on prevalent and incident psychiatric (depression) and physical morbidity (cardiovascular disease [CVD]) in their partner, controlling for known risk factors for depression and CVD...

..assess psychometric properties of scales developed to assess experience and perception of physical, psychological, and existential suffering in older individuals...

..Authors review practice guidelines and recommendations for healthcare providers in light of the empirical literature on family caregiving...

..Our goal was to focus on issues of clinical significance in caregiver intervention research in order to move the field toward a greater emphasis on achieving reliable and clinically meaningful outcomes...

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..In addition, negative reactions were predictive of the women's increased depressive symptomatology and decreased life satisfaction. Findings illustrate a useful theoretical approach to the examination of support from family caregivers...

..To examine the relationship between persistently high depressive symptoms and long-term changes in functional disability in elderly persons...

..Future studies should be theory driven and utilize psychometrically sound measures of religion/spirituality. Suggestions are provided to help guide future work...

..Discussion centers on the use of the Life Engagement Test in behavioral medicine and health psychology research and recent associations that have begun to emerge between the scale and health-relevant outcomes...

..Patients who were more depressed and who engaged in high levels of pain behavior had husbands who became more depressed and angry...

..Agreement between patients and physicians was associated with less (rather than more) self-efficacy and positive affect when compared to physicians' underestimation of patients' pain...

..However, through caregiving tasks, caregivers may be as physically active as non-caregivers. This study compared leisure-time exercise and overall physical activity in elderly women caregivers and non-caregivers...

..DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that the centrality of a social role can change over time in response to stressful and rewarding role experiences...