New Study Targets Depression Among Family Caregivers
United Spinal Association Hosts 20th AASCIPSW Annual Conference; New Study Targets Depression Among Family Caregivers
United Spinal Association will be hosting the 20th Annual Conference of the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologist and Social Workers (AASCIPSW) September 5-7, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference will highlight recent achievements in the treatment of spinal cord injury and disorders (SCI/D), research progress, and will acknowledge the accomplishments of psychologist and social workers who devote their careers to the field. The conference, the largest gathering of SCI/D professionals in North America, combines nationally-known speakers, paper presentations, committee meetings, group networking, and educational displays to create a stimulating learning environment.
One of the many ground-breaking research studies that will be presented is Predicting Depression Among Family Caregivers. Timothy R. Elliott, PhD, ABPP, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham will discuss how research findings provide new insights into family members who assume the caregiver role for a person with SCI, particularly how caregivers may experience heightened distress and are often considered at risk for depression. Self-report measures are often used to assess depressive symptoms among family caregivers, but the authors note that these instruments provide an indicator of current distress and were not designed to assess symptoms with criteria consistent with a depressive disorder.
The objective is to help participants understand the necessity for applying diagnostic criteria in assessing depression among family caregivers, learn the observed percentage of family caregivers who are at risk for major depressive disorder, and that caregivers at risk for a depressive episode may be providing care to a person with a more severe injury and may possess a dysfunctional problem-solving style.
AASCIPSW’s 20th annual conference will promote education and research on the psychosocial aspects of SCI, reporting the latest standards on health care as well as national health care policy that impacts the lives of people with SCI. Conferees will also identify new treatments and technologies to improve the psychosocial care of SCI/D patients. For more information, visit www.aascipsw.org.
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, United Spinal Association is a national membership organization serving people with spinal cord injuries or disorders. The organization helped build the Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research at Yale University in 1988 and they have contributed millions of dollars over the years to finding a cure for spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. The Association also provides significant annual funding to the Spinal Cord Damage Research Center at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY (named after the Association’s late executive director). And for our veterans, United Spinal’s lobbying efforts helped get legislation passed in record time that will provide traumatic injury insurance for our soldiers returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Membership in the Association is free and open to all people with spinal cord injury or disorder.