OBJECTIVES To assess the direct and indirect effects of patient or caregiver factors on caregiver burden of caring for community-residing people with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients diagnosed with AD from two hospitals and three communities in Taiyuan, China and their caregivers. For this survey, 200 patients with mild AD and their careg...

Crying is a powerful solicitation of caregiving, yet little is known about the cognitive processes underpinning caring responses to crying others. This study examined (1) whether crying (compared to sad and happy) faces differentially elicited semantic activation of caregiving, and (2) whether individual differences in cognitive and emotional empathy moderated this activation. Ninety participan...

Using data from the 2004 wave of the National Long-Term Care Survey, we examined how negative and positive caregiving experiences differ by caregivers' gender and relationship to care recipients. We further considered how their caregiving experiences are affected by caregivers' demographic characteristics, care recipients' problem behavior and dependency, caregivers' involvement, reciprocal hel...

In this article, the authors explore the home care experience as described by older physically impaired individuals and their caregiving spouses. Separate face-to-face semistructured interviews were carried out with each spouse from nine couples. Analysis of the interview data revealed four themes. For care receivers the themes were Independence and Developing a Trusting Relationship With Home ...

Informal older adult caregiving allows older adults to stay in their homes or live with loved ones, but decisions surrounding older adult care are fraught with complexities. Related research and case law suggest that an older adult's need for and refusal of help are important considerations; the current study is the first to examine these factors experimentally. Two samples (potential caregiver...

This prospective study (n = 476) examined 3 types of caregiving transitions experienced by wives and daughters of older persons: entry, institutionalization, and bereavement. Daughters were more likely to enter the caregiving role than wives, but the impact of entering the role was more pronounced for wives. After becoming a caregiver, wives decreased in their participation in leisure activitie...

Informal caregiving by close ones plays cardinal role in the health and life quality of chronically ill elderly people. Chronically ill older family members are largely dependent upon family caregiving to carry out everyday self-maintenance tasks identified as Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). The present paper examines experiences and problems...

OBJECTIVES As the incidence of Alzheimer's disease increases, so does the effect on families and friends who assume caregiving responsibilities. Despite the proliferation of caregiving studies reported in the literature, little is known of the day-to-day management styles and preferences of caregivers. To develop, implement, and test interventions designed to sustain caregivers in their role, m...

Effects of caregiving on physical health have received less theoretical and empirical attention than effects on psychological health. This meta-analysis integrates results from 176 studies on correlates of caregiver physical health. Caregiver depressive symptoms had stronger associations with physical health than did objective stressors. Higher levels of care recipient behavior problems were mo...

With the exception of HIV care, informal caregiving of chronically ill lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults has received very limited attention in the extensive caregiving literature. This article reports on research that considered the social context of care and a dyadic caregiving approach for 36 chronically ill LGB adults ages 50 and older and their informal caregivers. In this study, bot...