• Andrea Petriwskyj, Deborah Parker, Siobhan O'Dwyer, Wendy Moyle, and Nikki Nucifora.
• 1The University of Queensland, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work and the Australian Centre for Evidence Based Community Care: a Collaborating Centre of the Joanna Briggs Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 2The Centre for Applied Nursing Research, Ingham Medical Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales 3Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep. 2016 Jun 1; 14 (6): 238-73.

BackgroundRecent studies have indicated that family caregivers of people with dementia have higher rates of depression, anxiety and hopelessness, as well as higher levels of burden, stress and distress. Not all caregivers, however, succumb to the negative effects of caring. Caregivers who are able to recover from, resist or adapt to the physical and psychological demands of caring can be considered "resilient".ObjectivesThe objective of this review was to examine the existing evidence regarding interventions for building resilience in family caregivers of people living with dementia.Inclusion Criteria Types Of ParticipantsThis review considered studies that included family caregivers of people with dementia.Types Of Intervention(S)/Phenomena Of InterestStudies investigating interventions to build resilience in family caregivers were considered by the review. For qualitative studies, the phenomena of interest were family caregivers' experiences of the interventions including factors affecting implementation and their subjective experience of outcomes.ContextStudies conducted in any cultural or geographical context and any settings including participants' homes in the community, residential aged care or hospital, medical or allied health practice were considered for inclusion.Types Of StudiesQuantitative studies incorporating experimental and descriptive study designs and qualitative studies, including, but not limited to, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research were considered for inclusion.OutcomesQuantitative studies were included that contained either objective or subjective outcome measures (or a combination of both). In cases in which proxy measures of resilience were used, only those papers that explicitly related the aims of the intervention and the measurement of outcomes to resilience itself were considered for inclusion. Proxies could include, but were not limited to, self-efficacy, locus of control, perceived burden, psychological wellbeing, strength, coping, positive adjustment and resourcefulness. Qualitative studies were similarly considered for inclusion if they explicitly related the aims of the intervention to resilience.Search StrategyEleven electronic databases were searched for research studies published in English in or after 1990.Methodological QualityQuantitative and qualitative studies selected for retrieval were assessed by two independent reviewers for methodological validity using standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute Meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI) and Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-QARI).Data ExtractionQuantitative and qualitative data were extracted from publications included in the review using the standardized data extraction tools from JBI-MAStARI and JBI-QARI.Data SynthesisIt was not possible to pool quantitative findings for statistical meta-analysis using JBI-MAStARI. Qualitative research findings were too limited to be pooled using the JBI-QARI. The findings are presented in narrative form.ResultsThe review included three publications reporting one quantitative intervention study and one mixed-method intervention study. There was a lack of available studies and, of the two intervention studies that were identified, neither found any statistically significant change in quantitative measures of resilience. Qualitative data suggested positive impacts of a poetry writing intervention and a positive experience of the intervention.Conclusion Implications For PracticeThe studies differed in both the nature of the intervention and the way resilience was conceptualized and operationalized. Consequently, it was not possible to offer any recommendations for practice.Implications For ResearchImplications for research relate to the development of a more comprehensive theory of resilience in family caregivers that can be used to develop and rigorously evaluate reliable and valid measures of resilience in line with that theory. Further, well-designed, sufficiently powered intervention studies informed by theory are needed.

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