2008 Grants - McClendon

Quality of Caregiving in Alzheimer's Disease

McKee J. McClendon, Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio

2008 Investigator-Initiated Research Grant

No studies have looked at whether quality of care for people with Alzheimer's disease can delay the time of institutionalization or death.

McKee J. McClendon, Ph.D., and colleagues will study the quality of care of in-home caregivers for people with Alzheimer's disease in the Cleveland area. The group will study 390 people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers to assess the caregivers' level of respect for their care recipients' autonomy and dignity. The team will also assess whether caregivers are frustrated with their care recipients and using criticism to control them.

The researchers will then examine the relationship between quality of care and the care recipient's behaviors, such as cognitive impairment, and with the caregiver's own behaviors, such as coping skills and depression.

The goal is to determine what types of caregivers and people with the Alzheimer's are likely to give and receive the best quality of care, and whether that quality of care impacts the timing of institutionalization or death for the person with Alzheimer's.