Du Yan, Paiva Kristi, Cebula Adrian, Kim Seon, Lopez Katrina, Li Chengdong, White Carole, Myneni Sahiti, Seshadri Sudha, Wang Jing
Center on Smart and Connected Health Technologies, School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States.
School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Jul 6;22(7):e17851. doi: 10.2196/17851.
Diabetes and Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) are the seventh and sixth leading causes of death in the United States, respectively, and they coexist in many older adults. Caring for a loved one with both ADRD and diabetes is challenging and burdensome.
This study aims to explore diabetes-related topics in the Alzheimer's Association ALZConnected caregiver forum by family caregivers of persons living with ADRD.
User posts on the Alzheimer's Association ALZConnected caregiver forum were extracted. A total of 528 posts related to diabetes were included in the analysis. Of the users who generated the 528 posts, approximately 96.1% (275/286) were relatives of the care recipient with ADRD (eg, child, grandchild, spouse, sibling, or unspecified relative). Two researchers analyzed the data independently using thematic analysis. Any divergence was discussed among the research team, and an agreement was reached with a senior researcher's input as deemed necessary.
Thematic analysis revealed 7 key themes. The results showed that comorbidities of ADRD were common topics of discussions among family caregivers. Diabetes management in ADRD challenged family caregivers. Family caregivers might neglect their own health care because of the caring burden, and they reported poor health outcomes and reduced quality of life. The online forum provided a platform for family caregivers to seek support in their attempts to learn more about how to manage the ADRD of their care recipients and seek support for managing their own lives as caregivers.
The ALZConnected forum provided a platform for caregivers to seek informational and emotional support for caring for persons living with ADRD and diabetes. The overwhelming burdens with these two health conditions were apparent for both caregivers and care recipients based on discussions from the online forum. Studies are urgently needed to provide practical guidelines and interventions for diabetes management in individuals with diabetes and ADRD. Future studies to explore delivering diabetes management interventions through online communities in caregivers and their care recipients with ADRD and diabetes are warranted.
糖尿病和阿尔茨海默病及相关痴呆症（ADRD）分别是美国第七和第六大死因，且在许多老年人中同时存在。照顾患有ADRD和糖尿病的亲人具有挑战性且负担沉重。
本研究旨在通过ADRD患者的家庭照护者，探讨阿尔茨海默病协会ALZConnected照护者论坛中与糖尿病相关的话题。
提取阿尔茨海默病协会ALZConnected照护者论坛上的用户帖子。分析中纳入了总共528条与糖尿病相关的帖子。在发布这528条帖子的用户中，约96.1%（275/286）是ADRD受照护者的亲属（如子女、孙辈、配偶、兄弟姐妹或未指明的亲属）。两名研究人员使用主题分析法独立分析数据。如有分歧，研究团队会进行讨论，并在必要时根据资深研究人员的意见达成一致。
主题分析揭示了7个关键主题。结果表明，ADRD的共病是家庭照护者讨论的常见话题。ADRD患者的糖尿病管理给家庭照护者带来了挑战。由于照护负担，家庭照护者可能会忽视自己的医疗保健，他们报告健康状况不佳且生活质量下降。在线论坛为家庭照护者提供了一个平台，使他们在试图更多地了解如何管理受照护者的ADRD以及寻求作为照护者管理自己生活的支持时能够获得帮助。
ALZConnected论坛为照护者提供了一个平台，以便他们为照顾患有ADRD和糖尿病的患者寻求信息和情感支持。基于在线论坛的讨论，这两种健康状况给照护者和受照护者带来的巨大负担显而易见。迫切需要开展研究，为患有糖尿病和ADRD的个体提供糖尿病管理的实用指南和干预措施。未来有必要开展研究，探索通过在线社区为患有ADRD和糖尿病的照护者及其受照护者提供糖尿病管理干预措施。
