Dementia management strategies and adjustment of family members of older patients

Family members caring for dementia patients must often contend with a complex set of behavioral problems evidenced by their demented older relatives. In this study we examined how strategies to manage dementia problems in (N = 152) older people were associated with the adjustment of family members while providing assistance to the patient. Three Dementia Management Strategies were identified (Criticism, Encouragement, and Active Management) and were found to be associated with three indices of family members' emotional adjustment burden, psychiatric symptoms, and desire to institutionalize the patient. After controlling for the influence of family member and patient background characteristics and family member coping, Dementia Management Strategies accounted for significant and unique variance in family members' burden and desire to institutionalize the patient but not in family members' psychiatric symptoms. The use of Active Management and Criticism was associated with greater burden, whereas use of Encouragement was tied to less family member burden and less desire to institutionalize.