title: [Problems in the process of adapting to change among the family caregivers of elderly people with dementia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify and analyse problems in adapting to change among the family caregivers of relatives with dementia.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Grupo de Investigación CuiDsalud, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, España. Electronic address: sara.moreno.camara@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moreno-Cámara
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, España.
authors.forename: Pedro Ángel
authors.initials: PÁ
authors.lastname: Palomino-Moral
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Grupo de Investigación CuiDsalud, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, España.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moral-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, España.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frías-Osuna
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, España.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Del-Pino-Casado
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013030:Spain
keywords: Adaptación psicológica; Alzheimer disease; Caregivers; Demencia; Dementia; Enfermedad de Alzheimer; Grounded theory; Investigación cualitativa; Personas cuidadoras; Psychological adaptation; Qualitative research; Teoría fundamentada