Health, Wellbeing, and the Social Networks of Family Caregivers of People with Alzheimer's Disease

项目摘要 阿尔茨海默氏症和相关的痴呆症估计是#年最昂贵的健康疾病之一。 美国，大部分费用来自提供长期服务和支持：即， 帮助做一些日常活动，如洗澡、穿衣、梳妆、上厕所、吃饭和走动。 家人和朋友提供了大部分的护理，通常花费了巨大的经济、情感和身体费用 他们自己。这一负担可以通过一个强大的支持系统--一个有凝聚力的 家人和朋友协调和沟通，为照顾者和照顾者提供支持 接受者--到目前为止，对这些支持网络的研究还很少。这是令人惊讶的，因为 更强大的网络始终与更好的健康结果相关。这可能是特别正确的 对于照顾者：由于社交网络随着生活的转变而变化，照顾者可能会把照顾者 面临社会孤立和健康恶化的风险。先前关于这一主题的几项研究具有重要意义 局限性：即，它们侧重于美国以外的人口或老年人。这将是第一项研究 在一项具有全国代表性的在线小组研究中收集家庭照顾者的社交网络数据 在美国，18岁及以上的成年人。我们的目标是找出各个年龄段的家庭照顾者以增加 代表性，衡量更广泛的感知照顾者网络，并捕获更多关于照顾者的详细信息 网络组成和结构(例如，“弱”关系、负面关系、联系频率、情感亲密度或 领带类型)。我们将研究常见的网络类型及其与各种措施的关联 身体、精神和社会健康，我们将测试潜在的中介因素，包括 照护环境与照顾者健康。最后，我们将研究照顾者的社交网络和 它如何与照顾者在照看周期中的健康相关。这项工作将帮助研究人员和 政策制定者确定对各种健康和健康最重要的护理人员的网络特征 随着时间的推移，幸福的结果。这也是收集经验数据的关键第一步，这些数据可以为 开发包含基于社交网络的干预措施的护理干预措施--例如， 基于技术的干预，提供个性化的网络可视化以触发以下战略 改变网络(例如，放弃关系、连接断开的关系或花更多时间在支持上 网络成员)-不仅改善成年痴呆症患者的健康和福祉，也改善他们的健康和福祉 照顾者。

Project Summary Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are estimated to be among the most costly health conditions in America, with the bulk of the costs stemming from the provision of long-term services and supports: that is, help with everyday activities, such as bathing, dressing, grooming, using the toilet, eating, and moving around. Family and friends provide most of this care, often at great financial, emotional, and physical expense to themselves. This burden can be alleviated somewhat through a strong support system—a cohesive network of family and friends coordinating and communicating to provide support to both the caregiver and the care recipient—yet to date there is little research examining these support networks. This is surprising given that stronger networks are consistently associated with better health outcomes. And this may be particularly true for caregivers: because social networks change along with life transitions, caregiving potentially puts caregivers at risk of social isolation and worsened health. The handful of prior studies on this topic have significant limitations: namely, they focus on populations outside the U.S. or on older adults. This will be the first study to collect data on the social networks of family caregivers in a nationally representative online panel study of adults in the U.S., age 18 and over. Our aim is to identify family caregivers across the age spectrum to increase representativeness, measure extended perceived caregiver networks, and capture greater detail on caregiver network composition and structure (e.g. “weak” ties, negative ties, frequency of contact, emotional closeness, or type of ties). We will examine common network typologies and their associations with a variety of measures of physical, mental, and social well-being, and we will test for potential mediating factors, including the caregiving context and care recipient health. Finally, we will examine change in caregivers’ social networks and how it may be associated with caregiver health over the caregiving cycle. This work will help researchers and policymakers identify the network characteristics of caregivers that matter most for a variety of health and well-being outcomes over time. It is also a critical first step for collecting empirical data that can inform the development of caregiving interventions that incorporate social network-based interventions—for example, technology-based interventions that provide personalized network visualizations to trigger strategies for altering networks (e.g., dropping ties, connecting disconnected ties, or spending more time with supportive network members)—to improve the health and well-being not only of adults with dementia but also of their caregivers.