title: Social support needs of family caregivers of psychiatric patients from three age groups.
abstract: Sixty family caregivers of child, adult, and elderly psychiatric patients were interviewed to determine their unique and common support needs. Content analysis of interview data was used to identify support categories and their properties. Support needs expressed by caregivers paralleled the general types of support described in the social support literature (emotional, feedback, informational, and instrumental); however, for many categories under each general type the specific meaning of the support was directly linked to the psychiatric caregiving role. Most of the differences in support needs among caregivers from the three age groups reflected the caregivers' stage of life and the length of time they had been caregiving. The group of caregivers of adult patients reported having the least support. Although many support needs were expressed, the needed support did not exist.
authors.affiliation: University of California, School of Nursing, San Francisco.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Norbeck
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chaftez
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skodol-Wilson
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease; D001714:Bipolar Disorder; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support