Risk factors for stress in elderly caregivers

✍ Scribed by Brian M. Draper; Roslyn G. Poulos; Christopher J. Poulos; Frederick Ehrlich

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 454 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199603)11:3<227::aid-gps311>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

This cross-sectional study examined 99 elderly coresident stroke and dementia caregivers who had been in the caregiving role for at least 6 months, to identify risk factors for subjective burden and psychological morbidity. A worsening in the quality of relationship between the caregiver and patient, being a spouse, shorter length of caregiving, poor caregiver self-rated health, greater physical disability and behaviour/mood disturbance in the patient were found to be risk factors for burden. For psychological morbidity, risk factors also included behaviour/ mood disturbance as well as female gender and low participation in life activities. These results demonstrate the multifactorial nature of caregiver stress in the elderly.