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Factors related to sense of competence in family caregivers of people living with dementia in the community: a narrative synthesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2018

Jacki Stansfeld ,
Nadia Crellin ,
Martin Orrell ,
Jennifer Wenborn ,
Georgina Charlesworth  and
Myrra Vernooij-Dassen
Jacki Stansfeld*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK Research and Development, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, Goodmayes Hospital, UK
Nadia Crellin
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK Research and Development, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, Goodmayes Hospital, UK
Martin Orrell
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Jennifer Wenborn
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK Research and Development, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, Goodmayes Hospital, UK
Georgina Charlesworth
Affiliation:
Research and Development, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, Goodmayes Hospital, UK Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
Myrra Vernooij-Dassen
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Jacki Stansfeld, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK. Phone: 0300 555 1200 ext 64491/07834392294. Email: j.stansfeld@ucl.ac.uk.
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Abstract

Objectives:

Sense of competence defines a caregiver’s feeling of being capable to manage the caregiving task and is an important clinical concept in the caregiving literature. The aim of this review was to identify the factors, both positive and negative, associated with a caregiver’s perception of their sense of competence.

Design:

A systematic review of the literature was conducted, retrieving both quantitative and qualitative papers from databases PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Medline. A quality assessment was conducted using the STROBE and CASP checklists, and the quality rating informed the inclusion of papers ensuring the evidence was robust. Narrative synthesis was employed to synthesize the findings and to generate an updated conceptual model of sense of competence.

Results:

Seventeen papers were included in the review, all of which were moderate to high quality. These included 13 quantitative, three mixed-methods and one qualitative study. Factors associated with sense of competence included: behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), caregiver depression, gratitude, and the ability to find meaning in caregiving.

Conclusions:

The results of this review demonstrate that both positive and negative aspects of caring are associated with caregiver sense of competence. Positive and negative aspects of caregiving act in tandem to influence caregiver perception of their competence. The proposed model of sense of competence aims to guide future research and clinical interventions aimed at improving this domain but requires further testing, as due to the observational nature of the include papers, the direction of causality could not be inferred.

Keywords

dementiaAlzheimer’s Diseasecarerscompetency

Information

Type
Review Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 31 , Issue 6: Issue Theme: Frailty, Cognition, and Mental Health , June 2019 , pp. 799 - 813
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2018 

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Footnotes

*

Georgina Charlesworth’s affiliations have been updated. An erratum detailing this change has also been published (doi:10.1017/S1041610219000899).

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