title: Kin relationship of caregivers and people with dementia: stress and response to intervention.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the effects of kin relationship on response to use of adult day services (ADS) on feelings of overload, depressive symptoms, and positive affect for family caregivers of people with dementia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 341 participants drawn from two studies of ADS. The studies used a quasi-experimental design, comparing family caregivers enrolling their care receiver with dementia in an ADS program to a control group not using ADS. Using multilevel model analysis, we examined the main and interaction effects of kin relationship (wife vs. daughters/daughters-in-law), intervention (ADS vs. non-ADS users), and time (baseline, 3 months, and 12 months) on overload, depressive symptoms, and positive affect.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Kin relationship affected the response to intervention but in a somewhat different way for each outcome measure. For depressive symptoms, both wives and daughters using ADS had lower scores over time compared to controls. Both wives and daughters using ADS had lower feelings of overload over time, but daughters had a greater decline and wives' scores on this measure dropped only to the level found among controls. For positive affect, wives using ADS showed a considerable decline over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that kin relationship is an important moderator of caregivers' response to intervention and warrant more attention both in the design and evaluation of interventions with family caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. kxk947@psu.edu
authors.forename: Kyungmin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Steven H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zarit
authors.forename: Elia E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Femia
authors.forename: Jyoti
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Savla
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*