Family caregiving, dementia, and social support.

Abstract

The caregiving literature provides strong evidence for a negative relationship between the demands of caregiving and caregiver health and well-being. Similarly, it provides strong evidence for a positive relationship between social support and caregiver health and well-being. It is not clear, however, how caregiving and social support affect the caregiver's health and well-being. This dissertation examined social support in caregiving situations in which the care recipient had Alzheimer's disease. The role of social support was examined in the family caregiving situation by applying a modified version of Antonucci and Jackson's 1987 interpersonal support/efficacy framework to data on caregiver-care recipient dyads. Data were analyzed from Wave 2 of The Impact of Alzheimer's Disease on Family Caregivers Study. Subjects were a convenience sample of 169 family caregivers recruited through the Alzheimer's Association and health agencies in Michigan. Path analysis was used to examine the effects of problem behaviors of persons with Alzheimer's disease and of social support on the health and well-being of primary caregivers. Results revealed that caregivers who reported receiving more instrumental and affective support from others also reported greater satisfaction with the support they received or the support they perceived as available to them; a higher sense of caregiving self-efficacy; and lower depression, better physical and emotional health, and a higher sense of positive well-being. Caregivers who reported more disturbing patient behaviors reported being more bothered by those behaviors; having lower self-efficacy; and having a higher level of depression, poorer physical and emotional health; and a lower sense of positive well-being. The modified model accounted for 42% of the variance in caregiver depression, 41% of the variance in caregiver physical and emotional health; and 45% of the variance in the caregiver's sense of positive well-being. The development of the resulting model is a beginning step in identifying ways to help dementia caregivers continue in their caregiving roles while minimizing the toll that caregiving takes on their own health and well-being.