Caregivers need help coping with loved one’s mild memory loss

The age-related memory condition known as mild cognitive impairment is more disruptive to day-to-day life and relationships than once believed and grows worse with time, gerontology researchers at Virginia Tech (VT) in the US have discovered.
 
VT researchers set out to determine the issues and needs of families responding to mild cognitive impairment, also known as MCI. After interviews with 99 families, “primary family members reported that their relatives were experiencing memory-related changes that interfered with their daily activities and responsibilities, decision-making processes, and relationships,” the researchers said.

The research identified three types of responses from people diagnosed with MCI.  “Some elders were strategists; their memory loss was apparent to them and they wanted to find out all they could about what it was, why it was occurring, and what they could do about it. They had already begun working through potential changes in their lives,”  the researchers report.
 
Older adults in the second group appeared more uncertain. They did not appear to recognise that they have memory changes and did not understand why they needed to be tested. And a few older adults appeared troubled by their condition. “They are not accepting of the memory changes,” the team said. “Although they did not acknowledge problems willingly, we sensed that they realised things were not quite right.”
  
“Care partners reported distress at having to take on the other person’s responsibilities, or at the changes in the marriage or parent-child relationship. There was also frustration at the changes in daily routine.
 
“The care partner experiences a loss of independence and a loss of time for personal interests,” said co-researcher Dr Rosemary Blieszner, associate director of the gerontology center. “The definition of MCI has been that it does not significantly affect daily life – but sometimes that is not true.”
 
The team’s finding is significant because problems early in caregiving have long-term implications for the individual providing care and their feelings of burden and depression, if MCI progresses to Alzheimer’s disease.

“Professionals need to provide information, assistance, coping strategies, and support to family members at this stage in the care process rather than waiting until Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed,” the researchers advised the Alzheimer’s Association, which funded the study.
 
The researchers also asked the families the type of information they would like to have. In response, VT’s Center for Gerontology published a brochure for family caregivers, ‘Mild Cognitive Impairment – What do we do now?’ The brochure is available free for downloading at www.gerontology.vt.edu/docs/Gerontology_MCI_final.pdf