Bearing one another's burdens : a study of effective social support for caregivers

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between caregiver social support, burden, and outcomes. The caregiver outcomes evaluated were caregiver perception of health, change in health, depression, and satisfaction with the caregiving role. The study was based on the premise that certain types of social support relationships matter more than others. They were termed special relationships and include relationships that were used and not just available, broad in terms of the type of support they supplied, and selective in nature. The impact of burden on caregiver outcomes was established. Then the direct effect of social support on caregiver outcomes was tested and finally, the modifying effect of the presence of special relationships on burden was assessed. The study found combined burden from cognitive incapacity, disruptive behavior, and social function burden was significantly correlated to poorer health perception (r=.49), a negative change in health habits (r=.45), increased depression (r=.63), and decreased satisfaction (r=. 70). The presence of special relationships had a nearly significant association with decline in health perception (r=.24) and increased satisfaction with caregiving (r=-.22). In the presence of special relationships activity of daily living burden had a significant effect on health perception (r=.38) and a nearly significant relationship with a negative change in health (r-.33) but no correlation to depression or satisfaction. In the presence of special relationships combined burden was did not have significant correlations with any caregiver outcomes.