title: Caring for frail elders with musculoskeletal conditions and family caregivers' subjective well-being: The role of multidimensional caregiver burden.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study examined the unique set of correlates of each dimension of the burden experienced by family caregivers of frail elders with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions in China, and the role of caregiver burden in between caregiver stressors and subjective well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data was derived from a community sample of 494 elder-caregiver dyads from six urban districts of Shanghai (China). The elders were aged 75 or above, needed assistance in activities of daily living (ADL) and had MSK conditions. The family caregivers were these elders' primary caregivers and at the age of 18 or older. Path analysis was used to examine the proposed model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Care recipients' functional health, cognitive status and behavioral problems affected the multiple dimensions of caregiver burden differently. These three stressors also indirectly affected caregivers' subjective well-being through physical, social and developmental burden.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings highlighted the mediator role of caregiver burden in between caregiver stressors and subjective well-being, which supported burden-as-mediator theory in understanding family caregiving for frail elders with musculoskeletal conditions in a Chinese context. The focus of intervention should be varied according to the levels of the primary stressors. Policy and intervention implications with regard to the ways of helping Chinese families care for their frail elders with MSK conditions were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work, School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, No. 59 Zhongguancun St., Haidian District, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Columbia University, 1255 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Jinyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work & Social Administration, Sau Po Centre on Ageing, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: wlou@hku.hk.
authors.forename: Vivian W Q
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Lou
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002681:China; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Caregiver burden; China; Correlates; Frail elders; Musculoskeletal conditions; Subjective well-being