Nursing research in caregivers of people with Parkinson's disease from 2011 to 2021: A scoping review

Abstract

The purpose of this scoping review was to assess the state of empirical research studies related to caregivers of people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) conducted by nurse scientists and their research teams during the 10-year period. A total of 29 studies were included in this review. Twenty-two studies (75.8%) were first authored by a nurse scientist. Eighteen studies (62%) were conducted by interdisciplinary teams. Caregiver burden/strain were the most studied variables (n = 12). Other variables were studied in less than five studies, including caregivers' needs/preferences, coping, caregiver support or support group, decision-making related PD caregiving, and interventions. Various research designs (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods) were utilized to answer the research questions in the included studies. Lack of the nursing intervention studies in PD caregiving suggests a need to develop evidence-based, multicomponent interventions to improve caregiver quality of life and better health outcomes to help caregivers provide caregiving for people with PD.

Keywords: Caregivers; Nursing research; Parkinson's disease; Scoping review.