The Effectiveness Of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program In Reducing The Anxiety And Burden Of Family Caregivers Of Patients With Dementia

INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1.1 Background of the Study

An act of caregiving is not always an expression of nurturance, rather prolonged

caregiving, especially to the persons with major neurological disturbance like dementia

turning into a burden and a matter of worry. Wingham, Frost, and Britten (2017) in

their qualitative study "Behind the smiles" of the cij ers found that caregivers often hide

the extent of emotional stress and an@i!l hey go through.

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the patient, sense of hopelessness, changing sense e, learning care skills, and

ignoring one's own health. Researches have, onducted in India to study of

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quality of life of caregivers, however the, a: ve failed to identify the reason, behind

their poor quality of life (Srivas tav!( fipathi, Tiwari, Singh, & Tripathi, 2016). The

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potential causes behind poor q - i fy of life among the caregivers of dementia patients

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are the perceived burdeQ at could be psychological, financial, to serve physical

presence etc. and the rry that even after caregiving the disease cause continuous

deterioration, e patient's condition who are the loved ones in their life like

the mother, t her, the grandmother, the grandfather or a loving neighbor (Srivastava,

Tripathi, Tiwari, Singh, & Tripathi, 2016) Worry and burden has significant

deleterious effect on caregiver's well-being. Interventions like mindfulness-based- stress

reduction technique help caregivers to manage their worry and burden who are caring family

members with dementia. Mindfulness is a standardized meditation program especially

designed to reduce stress by creating attention to present moment and by developing openness to

experience

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