Social aspects of caregiving for people living with motor neurone disease: their relationships to carer well-being.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate social aspects of caregiving for people living with motor neurone disease (MND) and examine their relationships to carers' well-being.


METHODS
A questionnaire was developed to assess carers' perceptions of their social support network (the Caregiver Network Scale, CNS), including measures of sociodemographic status and general well-being (GHQ-12), and mailed to carers of people living with MND.


RESULTS
Seventy-five surveys were returned (response rate: 33%). In univariate analyses, relationships between well-being and carer age, time as caregiver, and four subscales of the CNS were found to be significant. However, multivariate analyses combining their effects revealed that stress on carer social networks was the best single contributor to predictions of carer well-being.


CONCLUSIONS
Results indicate that prolonged caring for others living with MND has substantial costs for the carer in terms of loss of social support, which affects carer well-being and impacts ultimately on those living with MND. The CNS offers promise as a measure for screening at-risk carers; those who are distressed become candidates for professional intervention to help them cope better. Further research, providing validation of the scale for this task, is recommended.
Love
Anthony
A
School of Psychological Sciences, La Trobe University, Bendigo 3550, Australia. a.love@latrobe.edu.au
Street
Annette
A
Harris
Rod
R
Lowe
Roger
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016472:Motor Neuron Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000451:nursing*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012923:Social Class; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014739:Victoria