Objective: The lack of adequate conceptualisation and operationalisation of quality of life (QoL) limits the ability to have a consistent body of evidence to improve QoL research and practice in informal caregiving for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus, we conducted a meta-synthesis of qualitative research to improve the conceptual understanding of the experiences of MS carers and to identify factors that affect carers’ QoL.
Design: Systematic searches of five electronic databases yielded 17 qualitative studies which were synthesised using the principles of meta-ethnography.
Results: The synthesis resulted in nine inter-linking themes: Changes and losses; challenges revolving around MS; caregiving demands; burden of care; future concerns; external stressors; experiences of support; strategies used in managing the caregiving role; and motivating factors. Our findings suggest that MS carers can have both positive and negative experiences which may bring challenges and rewards to the carers.
Conclusion: We present a proposed QoL model for MS caregiving which can be used to inform the development of interventions for MS carers to improve their QoL. However, further empirical research is needed to examine the utility of this model and to explore the concept of QoL in MS carers in more detail. 相似文献
Objectives: Impulse Control Disorders (ICDs) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have previously almost exclusively been considered to result from anti-parkinsonian medication. However, this biomedical perspective has failed to achieve a full understanding of the phenomenon and it is argued that a failure to consider psychological factors is a critical omission.
Design: The present study examined the predictive relationship between ICDs in PD and a range of psychological measures, whilst controlling for a number of biomedical determinants.
Main outcome measures: One hundred participants with idiopathic PD completed questionnaires that assessed demographic and clinical characteristics, psychological measures and the presence of ICDs (QUIP-RS).
Results: Increased use of a ‘negative’ coping strategy, stronger illness identity, more emotional illness representations and stress were found to be significant predictors of ICDs, and different psychological predictors were associated with different ICDs. Medication was not found to predict ICDs in the presence of psychological factors, either when total treatment levels were considered or when agonist dose was considered alone.
Conclusions: This study provides the first quantitative evidence of a predominant predictive relationship between psychological factors and ICDs in PD. The results suggest that psychological interventions may have useful therapeutic role to play for ICDs in PD. 相似文献
It has been argued that memories that are inconsistent with one's self would differ from those that are consistent with the self. The present study addresses retrieval, phenomenology, rehearsal and narrative characteristics of autobiographical memories that are consistent versus discrepant with one's self. One hundred participants were asked to recall one self-consistent and one self-discrepant memory as well as an episode of telling these memories to others. They also filled out the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire and the Centrality of Event Scale for each memory. Results showed no difference between self-consistent and self-discrepant memories in retrieval time, specificity or phenomenology. However, self-discrepant memory narratives contained more meaning-making statements and less autonomy than self-consistent memories. Compared to self-consistent memories, self-discrepant memories were told to fewer people, and listener responses were more negative when they were told. Results are discussed in relation to the functions these memories serve. 相似文献
More than 50 years after its introduction into clinical practice, L?dopa still is the most effective therapy for Parkinson’s disease and the gold standard for all other medications. In this article, two case reports are used to illustrate the good clinical efficacy and also the long-term complications of L?dopa therapy. The cause for these problems are the pharmacokinetics of L?dopa in combination with the progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in the course of the disease. New formulations of L?dopa offer hope for the improvement of these complications. One of these will soon be available for clinical use, while others are being tested in ongoing clinical trials. 相似文献