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Objective: To identify and analyze the motives that lead people to take care of a dependent relative and their perceptions of the care situation., Design: Phenomenological qualitative study., Location: The study was conducted in the Jaén-Norte Sanitary District, during 2013 and 2014., Participants: A total of 13 primary caregivers of dependent elderly relatives with a minimum experience of one year in care participated, selected by intentional sampling., Method: Discourse analysis of 13 in-depth interviews considering the semantic and pragmatic content and field notes. Triangulation was performed in the analysis to favor the credibility of the study., Results: The motives for caring for a dependent relative are:'Familism','Material gains' and'Social pressure'. In turn, the'Familism' include 7 dimensions/motives:'Family obligation','Affection to the person taken care of','Return the received','Well-being of the person taken care of','Respect to the decision of the person taken care of','Agreement','Habit'. When the main motive to take care of is the'Family obligation', the'Material gains' or the'Social pressure' caregivers do not manifest positive perceptions for caring, and vice versa., Conclusion: This study has identified that'Familism','Material gains' and'Social pressure' are reasons why people care for a dependent relative in our sociocultural environment, as well as the relationship with the perception of the care situation. This will facilitate the identification of caregivers with greater predisposition to suffer negative consequences for caring and the development of interventions aimed at the prevention of such consequences., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study was to identify, classify and analyze the perceived needs of caregivers of elderly people with dementia during the care process. A descriptive phenomenological qualitative study using seven focus groups was conducted in different primary health care centers in the province of Jaén (Spain) between July 2012 and February 2013. Eighty-two family caregivers who were caring for people with dementia in different stages of the disease were selected by purposeful maximum variation sampling. Data were analyzed and organized thematically, considering the semantic and pragmatic content and field notes. Two main categories of the perceived needs of caregivers were identified. The first was related to the management of caring for a relative with dementia, and the second was related to the management of the caregivers' own care. Our findings support the provision of comprehensive interventions for the improvement of caregivers' emotional health that encompass more than one care need. This is where psycho-educational interventions aimed at managing the various aspects of dementia and self-care in caregivers can be accommodated. In addition, proactive interventions to develop important skills to care for a relative with dementia, which are not perceived as needs by the caregivers, are needed. These include skills in family negotiation, planning and searching for resources outside the family.

Background: The family often takes care of an elderly person who suddenly becomes dependent. This greatly affects different aspects of the caregivers' lives. The aim of this study is to explore the initial experiences, during the first year of care, of persons who suddenly become caregivers for elderly dependent relatives., Methods: A search in CINAHL, PsycINFO, WOS, Medline, and Scopus and a metasynthesis of qualitative research were conducted including 19 articles., Results: Three categories were developed to explain the process of becoming a caregiver 'taking on the role' (life changes, uncertainty and confusion, and acceptance or resistance); 'beginning to realise' (new needs, impact, and appraisal); and 'implementing strategies' (seeking help and self-learning, reordering family and social relationships, solving problems, and devising strategies to decrease negative emotions and stress)., Conclusions: The synthesis provides a comprehensive understanding of the experience of becoming a caregiver in order to help health-care professionals to adapt care plans to this situation.

Aim: Describe the initial process through which people who imminently become caregivers of a dependent elderly relative., Design: Qualitative study, for which its analysis has been directed by Grounded Theory principles., Location: This study was conducted in the Health Districts of Jaén, during 2015 and 2016 at the community level., Participants And/or Contexts: The recruitment was carried out by managers of the Health Centres of each Health District, who located the participants who met the inclusion criteria and invited them to participate in the study., Method: Eleven in-depth interviews were carried out, until saturation of information, on individuals who had been caring for an older relative with dependency for less than one year., Results: Three phases have been described during this process. An initial phase of changes, in which the caregiver assumes new activities; a second phase full of emotions, in which the needs and consequences emerge in caregivers; and a third phase that emphasises acceptance as a coping strategy and uncertainty as an expectation of the future., Discussion: The description of this process provides a comprehensive understanding of the experience of becoming a family caregiver, in order to help health professionals to adapt to the plans of care for this initial situation., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To identify and analyse problems in adapting to change among the family caregivers of relatives with dementia., Method: Qualitative study based on the methodology of Charmaz's Constructivist Grounded Theory. Seven focus groups were conducted in different primary health care centres in the province of Jaen (Spain). Eighty-two primary family caregivers of relatives with dementia participated by purposeful maximum variation sampling and theoretical sampling. Triangulation analysis was carried out to increase internal validity., Results: We obtained three main categories: 'Changing Care', 'Problems in the process of adapting to change' and 'Facilitators of the process of adapting to change'. Family caregivers perform their role in a context characterized by personal change, both in the person receiving the care and in the social and cultural context. The challenge of adaptation lies in the balance between the problems that hamper adaptation of the caregiver to new situations of care and the factors that facilitate the caregiver role., Conclusions: The adaptation of family caregivers to caring for a person with dementia is hindered by the lack of formal support and under-diagnosis of dementia. The adaptation process could be improved by strengthening formal support in the early stages of care to reduce the stress of family caregivers who must teach themselves about their task and by interventions adapted to each phase in the development of the caregiver role., (Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)