Caregivers for Alzheimer's patients: what we are learning from research

The research literature on adjustment by family members to providing care to victims of Alzheimer's disease is new and expanding rapidly. The purpose of this review is to summarize the categories and methods of that research; to evaluate critically the state of knowledge these studies are producing; and to suggest ways of strengthening future investigations. The review is organized around psychological, social, and health factors as antecedents or correlates of similar categories of outcomes for caregivers. While there are some emerging relationships involving caregiver burden, depression, and psychological well-being, it is difficult to generalize about the determinants or correlates of the consequences of meeting caregiver responsibilities; this difficulty probably results from a failure to deal adequately with key concepts and circumstances of the caregiver. These conceptual and methodological shortcomings are discussed and suggestions for refinement made.