title: Home visits by care providers--influences on health outcomes for caregivers of homebound older adults with dementia.
abstract: Homebound older adults benefit from provider home visits and there is an increasing need for these visits. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of provider (MD, NP) visits on the caregivers of homebound older adults. Fifty-five caregivers were interviewed to determine any difference in health measures between those whose care recipients had access to a provider and those that did not. The participants completed the SF-36, questionnaires on demographics and access and one opened ended question. Analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups of caregivers. The caregivers whose care recipients did not have access to a provider showed poorer health measures. Providers may have a positive impact on caregiver's health as well as that of the homebound. Developing new and innovative ways to support caregivers while providing care for our patients will be even more important as the population ages and the numbers of available caregivers decrease.
authors.affiliation: Old Dominion University, 4608 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA. Electronic address: cfowler@odu.edu.
authors.forename: Christianne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, School of Nursing, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Miyong T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018577:Homebound Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006792:House Calls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D057566:Self Report; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
keywords: Caregivers; Dementia; Health measures; Homebound