Caregiver Burden and Psychoeducational Interventions in Alzheimer's Disease: A Review

BACKGROUND: Caring for a patient with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with poor quality of life and deteriorating health for the caregiver. METHODS: This comprehensive review was performed to investigate the current literature on caregiver burden, factors affecting caregiver burden and the effectiveness of different types of intervention. RESULTS: Successful psychoeducational interventions for caregivers have included provision of information about AD, care planning, advice about patient management and the importance of self-care, skills training to aid patient management, stress management training, and problem-solving and decision-making guidance. CONCLUSION: Interventions that are individually tailored to the caregiver are particularly effective at reducing caregiver burden and should be further investigated. The use of effective pharmacological treatment for the improvement and/or stabilisation of AD symptoms in the patient is also likely to improve caregiver burden.