SUMMARY Relevance and novelty of the topic. Cargivers of persons with clinical dementia experience a lot of social, psychological and physical health problems and feel burdened. Until recently there has been very little analysis of stress factors influencing the caregivers stress. Aim of the study. To measure and examine psychosocial stress of family members and relatives who are caregivers of persons with dementia at home. Methods. Caregivers of persons with dementia filled out an anonymous qeustionaire. The interviews were conducted from December, 2004 to February, 2005. Respondents, who participated in research, were members of Kaunas and Vilnius Alzheimer’s clubs, and the data was collected during the meetings of these two clubs in Kaunas Dainava Center for Psychological Health and Vilnius Antakalnis health centre respectively. 22 respondents were from Kaunas and 28 from Vilnius. From the 50 respondents, who participated in research, 35 (70%) were women, and 15 (30%) were men. The average age was 62 years (the range of age was 40-94 years). The questionnaire that was used to gather data consisted of five parts: general questions about the caregiver and the person with clinical dementia; Greene’s Relatives Stress Scale, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale and Rapid Disability Rating Scale. Results. 7 (14%) respondents experienced a low level of psychosocial stress, 30 (60%) – average, and 13 (26%) – high level of stress. Most often the caregiver for person with clinical... [to full text]

Globėjų (rūpintojų) savipagalbos grupė yra grindžiama bendradarbiavimo ir dalijimosi patirtimi principu. Grupės nariai padeda vieni kitiems spręsti iškilusius sunkumus ne tik vaikų, bet ir asmeninius, patys gali sulaukti pagalbos iš grupės vadovų, pasimokyti vieni iš kitų.Atlikus tyrimą paaiškėjo, jog vaikai, globojami šeimose, turi galimybę mokytis savarankiškumo, formuoti įgūdžius, tačiau išlieka galimi sunkumai adaptacijos periodu, pasireiškia sunkiai suvaldoma vaikų agresija, skirtinga patirtis, kas nulemia pokyčius globėjų (rūpintojų) šeimose bei skirtingas socializacijos situacijas. Socialiniai darbuotojai ir globėjai (rūpintojai) savipagalbą traktuoja per panašių problemų sprendimą, norą padėti ne tik sau, bet ir kitiems. Socialinių darbuotojų nuomone, savipagalbos grupių kūrimas ir globėjams (rūpintojams) teikiama pagalba yra prasminga dėl tarpusavio santykių, gerosios patirties, problemų sprendimo mechanizmo. Globėjų (rūpintojų) nuomone, savipagalbos grupėse yra palaikomos jų kompetencijos, kas teigiamai veikia globėjo (rūpintojo) santykius su vaiku, padeda perprasti vaiko poreikius, padeda pagilinti žinias ir leidžia globėjui (rūpintojui) jaustis komandos dalimi globos (rūpybos) situacijoje. / Self-help groups in foster-parenting are based on collaboration and sharing of common experience. Group members help each other in solving not only child related but personal problems as well; they can attain help from the group leaders, and learn from each other. The research revealed that family- fostered children tend to be more independent, they are able to form certain skills. However, some difficulties during period of adaptation remain, including barely manageable aggression, differing life experiences that shape changes in foster families, and different paths of socialization. Social workers and foster parents understand self-help groups as a possibility to solve similar problems, helping oneself and each other. Social workers believe that self-help groups can offer significant improvement in relationships, problem solving, and exchange of good practices. Foster parents believe that in self-help groups they can enhance their competencies, which in turn can improve their relationships with a child, help understanding his/her needs, and enrich their knowledge, helping feel a part of the team in a foster- parenting situation.