A Resilience Training Module for Caregivers of Dementia Patients

School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract

As life span increases, society is facing an aging population and one of the major aging problems is dementia. Caregivers of dementia patients are usually family members who juggle work, family commitments and caring for the patients. The caregivers are at risk of depression, suicide and abusing their patients. As resilience has a positive relationship with surviving life crises, enhancing resilience will provide them with skills to cope and decrease depression. The purpose of this article is to perform a systematic narrative reviews of four resilience training modules.

This analysis searched Medline via Pub Med, EBSCO host and USM library for feasible training modalities, screening over 6640000 articles for relevance regarding caregiver resilience. The training modules were screened for suitability for adult population. Studies that identified core characteristics of resilience, sample description and ways of strengthening resilience.

Theory of resiliency and Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) are the theoretical framework found in these researches. These studies included antecedent-behavior-consequence chain of ABA and construct resilience: spirituality, leadership, problem solving, networking and self-efficacy. Items for example recognizing thinking traps, cultivating gratitude, critical thinking, conflict resolution, and creative problem solving skills are some of the review results. The findings were implemented in a training module to promote caregivers comprehension about resilience concept, and to enhance their resiliency and mental health.

In conclusion, a training module is built on these core characteristics of resilience. It hopes to improve caregivers’ adaptation to adversity and quality of life for a sustainable future.