ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses findings about the effectiveness of various interventions, and highlights the methodological limitations of approaches to evaluating outcomes. Interventions are categorized into two broad types based on their primary goal or objective. The first type includes programs that are designed to improve or enhance the caregiver’s abilities for managing the patient or care situations. The second type of intervention provides new resources that relieve the caregiver of some portion of routine care activities. Psychosocial interventions for caregivers have grown out of a clinical literature that suggests that an eclectic list of approaches may be helpful. Burden is the load borne by caregivers, their appraisals of the care-recipient’s behavior, their appraisals of the tasks they perform, and their evaluation of the consequences caregiving has had on different aspects of their lives. The use of well-being measures is based on the assumption that caregivers will experience some decrease in well-being relative to normal populations.
