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Biomedical subjects

Kathleen Coen Buckwalter

Publications and source records attributed to Kathleen Coen Buckwalter.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Friends and social support in dementia caregiving. Assessment and intervention.

The purpose of this article is to explore the topic of friends as a spontaneously occurring response in open-ended interviews with dementia caregivers and to propose guidelines for assessment and intervention based on current knowledge. The sample includes 176 open-ended baseline interviews with dementia caregivers drawn from the National Caregivers Training Study, a 4-year multi-site, randomized, community-based, psycho-educational intervention study. References to friends were present in 60 of the 176 baseline transcripts. More than 50% of the references were positive, 63% referred to the present, 80% of the content scores were greater than 1, and 66% were categorized as emotional support or social integration for caregivers. Meaningful categories exist and can be helpful in structuring the assessment of support from friends. Data support prior research suggesting that friends are providers and facilitators of emotional support and social integration. Although further research is needed on the concept of social support in general and social network providers in particular (e.g., friends), current knowledge allows for preliminary recommendations for assessment and intervention of friends and social support.

Aged↗

Telehealth for elders and their caregivers in rural communities.

The use of technological strategies in providing care for patients and their families at distant locations has been available since the 1950s. Today's telehealth approaches are proposed to offer considerable promise for enhanced service delivery in rural and other underserved communities. Technology-based delivery methods, such as videophone skill training, and one- and two-way interactive computer networks, are envisioned as contributors for improving rural residents' access to services, individualizing rural health care, increasing rural health practitioners' continuing education opportunities, and improving quality and cost-efficiency of care.

Age Factors↗