Hope and burden of Alzheimer disease – a scoping review

Introduction: For more than the last forty years, positive psychology and hope researchers have investigated many populations. Their main targets were healthy adults or adults suffering from diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular conditions. A forgotten sample is the growing group of informal caregivers supporting persons suffering from cognitive decline (preclinical symptoms, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease). The aim of the present manuscript is to show the complexity of the construct of hope and its influence on the caregivers’ situation. Material and methods: In this study, a scoping review of works from 2015 to 2025 on hope and dementia was performed. The systematic search yielded twenty studies conducted on different subjects (patients, informal caregivers and patients’ spouses). Results: The studies offered different views on the matter due to their differing origins. Divergent fields of research have produced a complex picture of hope and resilience studies. Current research uses multiple tools based on self-report to neuroimaging. The studies sample populations of Western and minority groups. Therefore, it was possible to show a more generalised picture of the subject group. Conclusions: The review showed a great need for studies on caregivers and their well-being. The introduced Positive Psychology Interventions show an increase in quality of life of caregivers and decreased impact of the burden of disease. Existing models like PERMA+4 and the hope theory through personalised solutions, can enhance the well-being of the growing informal caregivers’ and sandwich population.