Quality of informal care is multidimensional.
OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate that assessing quality of informal care involves more than merely determining whether care recipient needs for assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) are routinely satisfied. We investigated the extent to which potentially harmful behavior (PHB), adequate care, and exemplary care (EC) are empirically distinct dimensions of quality of care.


METHODS
237 care recipients completed the quality of care measures, and their caregivers completed psychosocial measures of their own depression, life events, cognitive status, and perceptions of pre-illness relationship quality.


RESULTS
Although PHB was moderately related to EC, adequate care was not associated with PHB and was only slightly related to EC. Psychosocial variables were not related to adequate care but were differentially associated with PHB and EC, providing additional evidence for the distinction between these measures of quality of care.


CONCLUSIONS
ADL assistance can be adequate in the presence of PHB and/or the absence of EC. Declines in EC may signal increases in PHB, independent of adequacy of care. These findings produce a brief, portable, and more comprehensive instrument for assessing quality of informal care.
Christie
Juliette
J
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia.
Smith
G Rush
GR
Williamson
Gail M
GM
Lance
Charles E
CE
Shovali
Tamar E
TE
Silva
Luciana C
LC
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003704:Dementia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D005195:Family Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D000091402:Prohibitins; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*