Transitions in Spousal Caregiving

Burton, Lynda; Zdaniuk, Bożena; Schulz, Richard; Jackson, Sharon; Hirsch, Calvin H.

doi:10.1093/geront/43.2.230

Cited by 194 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…21 Particularly in the early stages of caregiving, negative effects may not occur. 16,22 Even when caregiving demands become more intense and result in high levels of distress and depression, caregivers often cite positive aspects of the experience. They report that caregiving makes them feel good about themselves and as if they are needed, gives meaning to their lives, enables them to learn new skills, and strengthens their relationships with others.…”

Section: Positive Effects Of Caregivingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14,27 A few studies followed samples of noncaregivers until they became caregivers and then compared them with those who didn't take on this role. 16,22,28,29 Both Burton and colleagues and Hirst demonstrated that moving into a demanding caregiving role-providing assistance with basic ADLs for 20 hours or more per week-resulted in increased depression and psychological distress, impaired self-care, and poorer self-reported health. 16,22 A few studies have examined the effects of making the transition out of the caregiving role because the patient improves, enters an institution, or dies.…”

Section: Transitions Into and Out Of Caregivingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although relatively few studies have focused on the association between caregiving and health habits, researchers have found evidence of impaired health behaviors, such as neglecting their own health care appointments and eating a poor-quality diet, among caregivers who provide assistance with basic activities of daily living (ADLs) like toileting and eating. 16 Measures of psychological well-being (Table 2) such as depression and stress, have been the most frequently studied consequences of caregiving. This research has consistently shown relatively large effects, which are moderated by age, socioeconomic status, and the availability of informal support.…”

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Physical and Mental Health Effects of Family Caregiving

Schulz

Sherwood

2008

Journal of Social Work Education

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Adverse-and even positive-outcomes in a chronic stress experience.The associations between physical and psychological health and being an informal caregiver are well established. 1,7 In this article, caregiving denotes care that is provided by a family member or friend rather than by a professional who is reimbursed for services.Clinical observation and early empirical research showed that assuming a caregiving role can be stressful and burdensome. 8,9 Caregiving has all the features of a chronic stress experience: It creates physical and psychological strain over extended periods of time, is accompanied by high levels of unpredictability and uncontrollability, has the capacity to create secondary stress in multiple life domains such as work and family relationships, and frequently requires high levels of vigilance. Caregiving fits the formula for chronic stress so well that it is used as a model for studying the health effects of chronic stress. 2

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Section: Positive Effects Of Caregivingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transitions Into and Out Of Caregivingmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physical and Mental Health Effects of Family Caregiving

Schulz

Sherwood

2008

Journal of Social Work Education

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449

421

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“…Wives, for example, are more likely than daughters or daughters-in-law to be in frail health and to have instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) or activities of daily living (ADLs) impairments themselves, due to their more advanced age. Consequently wives may be more likely than daughters to relinquish caregiving due to health reasons ( Burton, Zdaniuk, Schulz, Jackson, & Hirsch, 2003 ;Schneider, Murray, Banerjee, & Mann, 1999 ). Daughters or daughters-in-law, in contrast, are more likely to have competing demands between caregiving and their other social roles such as own marriages, parenting roles, and work ( Baring, MacEwen, Kelloway, & Higginbottom, 1994 ;Reid & Hardy, 1999 ;Stephens, Franks, & Townsend, 1994 ).…”

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Wives and Daughters: The Differential Role of Day Care Use in the Nursing Home Placement of Cognitively Impaired Family Members

2009

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Purpose: To expand knowledge concerning the signifi cance of kin relationships in caregiving, this study assessed predictors of the timing of institutionalization for persons with dementia. The focus was on whether use of adult day care by wives and daughters holds the same implications for placement. Design and Methods: Guided by a caregiving stress process model, primary objective and subjective stressors, secondary stressors, caregiver wellbeing, and use of day care services were included as predictors. Cox proportional hazards models were tested using a sample of 371 community-dwelling caregivers, including 141 wives and 230 daughters and daughters-in-law. Results: The main effect of kinship was found to be signifi cant before interactions were introduced. Adult day care use at Time 1, role captivity, role overload, and social impact were subsequently found to interact with kinship. Analyses indicated that wives who used adult day care placed their husbands to a nursing home earlier than their counterparts. Among daughters, however, those who used adult day care were more likely to postpone the placement. The infl uence of role overload was also stronger in wives than in daughters in predicting the timing of placement. A similar pattern was observed in the interaction between social impact and kinship. Implications: The results demonstrate that factors infl uencing nursing home placement may vary according to the caregiver's familial relationship to the relative. Different approaches may be needed when targeting wife vs. daughter caregivers, especially when designing adult day care programs. Key Words: Predictors of nursing home placement , Spouse caregivers , Cognitively impaired elders , DementiaOne of the major challenges faced by family caregivers of elders with disability is the decision to institutionalize. Although placement is diffi cult for most caregivers, the meaning of institutionalization is likely to be different, depending on the kin relationship between caregiver and care receiver. The two most common groups of caregivers, wives and daughters, have very different relationships and obligations, and may differ as well in the resources they have available for providing care and in other demands on their time. Although one of the goals of respite programs such as adult day care services (ADSs) is to delay institutional placement, little is known about how kin relationship might affect its timing. At the program level and from a broader policy perspective, understanding how factors such as kin relationship might affect the placement decision may lead to development of better targeted services that could delay, where appropriate, the use of more expensive institutional care. The present study examines whether kin relationship affects the timing of nursing home placement for caregivers who enroll a relative into an ADS program compared with caregivers not using ADS.Studies of predictors of nursing home placement have generally found that persons with dementia who have more functional limitations, mo...

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“…Providing care for a frail elderly person is supposed to cause considerable burden and increased stress to family caregivers (Zarit et al 1986;Gräßel 1998;Burton et al 2003). The experienced strain due to the caregiving situation is said to lead to physical, emotional and mental exhaustion and sometimes even to burnout (Almberg et al 1997;Wilz et al 2005;Eith et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health-related quality of life of family caregivers—Evidence from Hesse

Rösler-Schidlack¹,

Stummer²,

Ostermann³

2010

J Public Health

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Aim:The aim of the present study is to analyse the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of primary family caregivers in comparison to the reference values of the average population. Subject and Methods:Data collection took place in the Werra-Meißner district in the year 2009 with a respondent rate of 102 primary family cares of frail elderly people. The health-related quality of life was measured with the Short Form 36 health survey (SF 36) and compared with the German reference values. Results:Compared to the health values of the normative sample, primary caregivers show significantly lower rates in all dimensions of the health-related quality of life. In particular caregivers between the age of 53 to 61 report extremely low health values. Caring women compared to noncaring women have highly significant differences in all subscales of the SF 36. Caregiving men as well report highly significant differences to noncaregiving men in all dimensions of the SF 36 except for Physical Functioning and General Health (p<0.01). Caregivers in general and especially caregiving women in the age of 53 to 61 (midlife) were identified as at-risk groups for poor health. The latter report lower vitality and well-being which may be a consequence of both social isolation and social impacts from multiple -role demands. Conclusion:The identified high-risk groups of family carers, caregivers in midlife and especially caring women in midlife, should be strengthened by social support e.g. training courses for family carer particular in their home setting and various types of respite care in order to sustain their health.

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Transitions in Spousal Caregiving

Abstract: Transitions into and within the caregiving role should be monitored for adverse health effects on the caregiver, with interventions tailored to the individual's location in the caregiving trajectory.

Cited by 194 publications

References 17 publications

Physical and Mental Health Effects of Family Caregiving

Physical and Mental Health Effects of Family Caregiving

Wives and Daughters: The Differential Role of Day Care Use in the Nursing Home Placement of Cognitively Impaired Family Members

Health-related quality of life of family caregivers—Evidence from Hesse

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