Alzheimer’s disease sufferers’ caregivers: Family beliefs and degree of burden.

This paper is a pilot study which looks family beliefs which influence the choice of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s disease sufferer. It focuses on the characteristics of caregivers, as well as the process through which they are identified. That is, how families ‘choose’ a caregiver (the family patterns of choosing a caregiver) and the beliefs about their choice. The burdens of caring are also considered. In this study, three of four caregivers are husbands looking after and having a very close and strong positive relationship with their wives. They have slightly to moderate stress. The family beliefs about the most important factors for being a caregiver are having good physical and mental health, a good giving and having the same gender as the dementia sufferer.