Published Paper Details:

Dementia is a progressive neurocognitive disorder that results in significant functional decline, requiring extensive support from family caregivers. These caregivers often experience substantial psychological, emotional, and physical stress due to prolonged caregiving responsibilities. This systematic review explored the key determinants of resilience among family caregivers of individuals with dementia, aiming to understand how personal attributes, relational factors, and caregiving demands influence resilience and overall caregiver well-being. A structured search of major academic databases identified relevant quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies that examined resilience within dementia caregiving contexts. The evidence showed that higher resilience was commonly associated with older caregiver age, male gender, stronger caregiver-care recipient relationships, lower levels of social isolation, fewer behavioural and neuropsychiatric symptoms in the care recipient, lower neuroticism, and a greater sense of competence in managing caregiving responsibilities. Interestingly, widely assumed protective traits such as self-efficacy, optimism, and self-esteem did not demonstrate consistent associations with resilience across the included studies. Caregivers supporting individuals with mild to moderate dementia tended to display relatively higher resilience, suggesting that resilience may fluctuate depending on the stage and severity of the condition. Despite these insights, notable gaps remain in the existing literature, there is limited use of standardized tools to measure caregiver resilience, and many studies fail to clarify whether higher resilience reflects true adaptive ability or reduced care demands in earlier stages of dementia. Research also lacks long-term follow-up, clear reporting of dementia severity and comparison across caregiver groups such as spouses and adult children. The review emphasizes the need for longitudinal research, standardized tools to measure resilience, and culturally sensitive interventions that can better support caregivers across diverse populations and caregiving environments.