Difficulties experienced by caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease in relation to dietary care: integrative review

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the problems experienced by caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in dietary care. Methods: An integrative review was carried out, whose guiding question was "What are the experiences and difficulties reported by caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease concerning dietary care?". The search occurred in April/2021 in the following databases: MEDLINE, Science Direct, SCOPUS, Web of Science, SciELO, and Lilacs. Publications fromthe last 10 years in English, Portuguese or Spanish were included. Results: Of the 2,418 articles initially found, the titles of 39 seemed to fit the research objectives. Of these, 11 articles were selected for full reading, and 8 were evaluated to answer the research question. A gap in the approach to the problems experienced by caregivers of patients with AD concerning dietary care was observed. Difficulties dealing with reduced appetite, dysphagia, inability to remember eating, mealtime refusal, and food repulsion were reported. Allied to this, caregiver stress was reported. Conclusion: The main problems experienced by caregivers of patients with AD involve reduced appetite, dysphagia, difficulty remembering what they have already eaten, refusal at mealtimes, and food repulsion. Thus, the theme deserves the attention and involvement of health professionals to focus on the most frequent difficulties and teach caregivers to overcome them.