The invisibility of care: multidimensional impacts on family caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease reorganizes family life by transferring a continuous demand for care to the 
household, usually assumed by family members without technical training, payment, or sufficient institutional support. This article analyzes, through a narrative literature review, the multidimensional 
impacts experienced by family caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's disease, with emphasis on 
mental health, quality of life, physical and emotional burden, and protective factors. National and 
international publications were consulted in databases such as PsycINFO, SciELO, LILACS, and EBSCO, prioritizing studies published between 2019 and 2025, without excluding classic theoretical works relevant to the topic. The reviewed literature indicates that family caregiving is associated with depressive symptoms, anxiety, chronic stress, social isolation, occupational losses, and physical illness. These impacts are intensified by cohabitation, long hours of caregiving, low income, limited support networks, and neuropsychiatric symptoms in the care recipient. Conversely, effective social support, psychoeducational programs, support groups, adaptive coping strategies, and psychological follow-up reduce vulnerability and promote resilience. The article concludes that the sustainability of family caregiving depends on recognizing caregivers as subjects who also require care, rather than as a 
functional extension of dementia treatment. The invisibility of caregivers is an ethical, clinical, and public health problem that demands coordinated responses from psychology, social assistance, and mental health policies.