title: Female Alzheimer's patient caregivers share their strength.
abstract: Spirituality is a valuable aspect in providing holistic care to Alzheimer's disease (AD) caregivers. This descriptive study explored the experience of AD caregiving in 14 older-women. A sample of African American and Caucasian participants presented spirituality and religion as essential aspects of their caregiving. Taking charge, adjusting/coping, making sense of the situation, and looking into the future were the themes that reflected spiritual/religious issues. The caregivers shared similar religious practices, but differed in the way they used spirituality and religious beliefs to construct the meaning of their experience. Implications for holistic care include incorporation of these differences in nursing practice.
authors.affiliation: Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago, Ill 60612, USA. Olimpia_Paun@rush.edu
authors.forename: Olimpia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Paun
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D018939:Holistic Nursing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D012944:Social Support; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology