Herramientas Para Cuidadores (Alzheimer’s Association)

Herramientas para Cuidadores is a psychoeducational training series teaching coping skills to distressed Latino caregivers of someone with Alzheimer’s disease in order to improve the quality of life of the caregiver and the quality of care for the person with dementia.

Organization:

The Alzheimer’s Association, Northern California

The Alzheimer’s Association, Northern California was established in 1981. The agency’s mission is “to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health”.

Location:

Mountain View, California

How does it work?

Herramientas para Cuidadores is complementary to existing caregiver resources. It emphasizes learning skills such as how to calm oneself in stressful situations in order to respond more effectively; how to manage challenging and problematic behavior of the care recipient more effectively; and how to communicate with family members more effectively. The program also serves to connect participants with other helpful community resources. The program is a 4-week series to accommodate the needs of caregivers, who work full-time and have young children.

Why is it successful?

Many programs addressing caregiving challenges focus on the well-being of the care recipient, techniques and problem solving skills for challenging behaviors and situations. Herramientas para Cuidadores teaches caregivers to approach challenges with their own well-being in mind; it emphasizes the individual’s responses to stressful situations, control over their responses, and focuses on shifting responses and corresponding behavior to benefit care giver and receiver. It complements other approaches that include the care recipient perspective, and combined with additional education and services, provides a basis for successful outcomes. The program builds on a series used effectively in prior research with Latino caregivers (REACH II investigators, 2006) and incorporates elements from a program offered to male, English-speaking caregivers.

For more information: www.alz.org/norcal