Caring for a Person With Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

While much of the literature on caregiver burden has focused on caregiving for people living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) there is little information on the experience of caring for a loved one living with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), the group most likely to convert to AD. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to understand the organizing principles that give experiences of being form and meaning in the lifeworld. Study findings highlight the precarious nature of caregiver role acquisition and the heterogeneity that is present among informal care providers. Specifically, the findings suggest that the wearing of multiple situational masks is required by the carer to cope with accumulated progressive losses suffered as they continually adjust to their new and evolving carer identity. Support groups specific to the carers of those living with aMCI are needed in an effort to remove these masks and to validate this unique caregiving experience.

Keywords: amnestic mild cognitive impairment; caregiving; lived experience; phenomenology.