title: Attitudes to aging in older carers - do they have a role in their well-being?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attitudes to aging have been investigated in non-carer populations and found to have important relationships with physical and mental health. However, these have not been explored in an older carer sample, although it is becoming increasingly important to clarify variables which are linked with positive carer outcomes. This is one of the first studies to report on older carers, their attitudes to aging, and the relationship with carer-related factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study of 202 carers with a mean age of 70.8 years was conducted in Victoria, Australia, using carer demographic data, carer factors such as depression (using the Geriatric Depression Scale), burden (using the Zarit Burden Inventory, ZBI), physical health, personality, and attitudes to aging (using the Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire, AAQ). Spearman rank correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study showed that carers had overall positive attitudes to aging inspite of their caring role. It also identified that carer factors including depression and burden contributed a significant amount of the variance to attitudes to aging in terms of physical change and psychosocial loss. Personality traits, specifically neuroticism, and extraversion, were also important contributors to attitudes to aging.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results from this study demonstrated that inspite of moderate levels of depression and spending significant time caring, carers reported positive attitudes to aging. Treating depression, decreasing burden, and investigating the benefits of caring may assist older carers maintain their well-being.
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age,Department of Psychiatry,University of Melbourne,Normanby House,St George's Hospital,283 Cotham Road,Kew,Victoria 3101,Australia.
authors.forename: Samantha M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Loi
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute,34-54 Poplar Road,Parkville,Victoria 3052,Australia.
authors.forename: Briony
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dow
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute,34-54 Poplar Road,Parkville,Victoria 3052,Australia.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science,Faculty of Health Sciences,Curtin University,Perth,Western Australia 6845,Australia.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics,School of Population and Global Health,University of Melbourne,Level 3,207 Bouverie Street,Parkville,Victoria 3010,Australia.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute,34-54 Poplar Road,Parkville,Victoria 3052,Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cyarto
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute,34-54 Poplar Road,Parkville,Victoria 3052,Australia.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malta
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute,34-54 Poplar Road,Parkville,Victoria 3052,Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ames
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Age,St. Vincent's Health,Department of Psychiatry,University of Melbourne.
authors.forename: Nicola T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Lautenschlager
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014739:Victoria
keywords: attitudes to aging; burden; depression; older carers; personality