Levels, types, and predictors of family caregiver strain during hospice home care for an older adult.
Academic researchers and professionals from a hospice organization collaborated to assess physical, emotional, social, economic, and spiritual strain stemming from providing care to a terminally ill older relative among 162 family caregivers to older adults newly admitted to hospice home care. The study investigated predictors of the different types of strain, as well as cumulative strain. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that caregivers' age and race, hospice patients' major illnesses (particularly cancer), caregivers' appraisals of their situation, and resources were significant risk or protective factors for caregiver strain, although the predictors varied by type of strain and amount of strain. Discussion focuses on the importance of identifying family caregivers at risk of higher strain during hospice home care and implications for family caregiver interventions.
Townsend
Aloen L
AL
Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. aloen.townsend@case.edu
Ishler
Karen J
KJ
Shapiro
Beth M
BM
Pitorak
Elizabeth Ford
EF
Matthews
Carol R
CR
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006699:Home Care Services; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012947:Social Work; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult