Kinless Older Adults with Dementia: Qualitative Analysis of Data from the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study.
Janelle S TaylorMarlaine S Figueroa GrayCorinne M MarPaul K CraneHitomi KariyaCallie FreitagPriyanka TanejaArvind RamaprasanBettina Shell DuncanAnn M O'HareClara BerridgeElizabeth K VigStephanie G B WheelerManu ThakralRene J HawkesEric B LarsonPublished in: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences (2023)
Our qualitative analysis reveals that the life trajectories that led members of the analytic cohort to be kinless at dementia onset were quite varied. This research highlights the importance of non-family caregivers, and participants' own roles as caregivers. Our findings suggest that providers and health systems may need to work with other parties to directly provide dementia caregiving support rather than rely on family, and address factors such as neighborhood affordability that particularly affect older adults who have limited family support.