The impact of a spouse-caregiver support group on care recipient health care costs.
Frail elderly veterans who received care at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center and whose spouse-caregivers participated in support groups to which they had been randomly assigned had lower health care costs over a 1-year period than did control participants.  The greatest impact was observed for participants perceived by their spouse-caregivers to be in the poorest health.  What is important to consider about this result in terms of health care policymaking is that support groups targeted for spouse-caregivers of elderly veterans in poor health produced significant outpatient, inpatient, and total cost savings for the care recipients, and were cost effective.
Peak
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Utah State University, USA.
Toseland
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Banks
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D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D016330:Frail Elderly; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses; D014728:Veterans