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Caregiving: Predicting At-Risk Status*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Neena L. Chappell  and
Carren Dujela
Neena L. Chappell*
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
Carren Dujela
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to:/Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Neena L. Chappell, Ph.D., F.R.S.C., Canada Research Chair in Social Gerontology, Professor, Department of Sociology and Centre on Aging, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700, Stn. CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, (nlc@uvic.ca)
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Abstract

Despite the focus on burden of caregiving in gerontological research, studies have shown that few caregivers are overly burdened. This article compares predictors of role-specific burden and two quality-of-life measures among caregivers experiencing heavy care demands to assess role-impact on each. The study included 92 community-based caregivers on Vancouver Island. Predictors included primary stressors, personal resources, and socio-demographic factors. Demands of caregiving emerged as the most significant correlate of role-specific burden and was important for overall well-being indirectly, through burden. Resilience was an important correlate of all three outcomes. Over the year of the study, caregivers improved in all three outcomes examined, but we were unsuccessful in predicting that change. Findings suggest caregivers can both be burdened and simultaneously experience good or high well-being, pointing to the importance of not generalizing from studies restricted only to caregiver burden in making recommendations about these people's overall lives.

Résumé

Malgré l'accent mis, lors de la recherche en gérontologie, sur les obligations en matière de prestation de soins, des études ont démontré que peu de dispensateurs de soins sont soumis à un trop lourd fardeau. Le présent article compare les prévisions des obligations particulières aux rôles et deux mesures de la qualité de vie chez les dispensateurs de soins soumis à des exigences importantes en matière de soins de santé afin d’évaluer les effets du rôle de chacun. l'étude a porté sur 92 dispensateurs communautaires de soins dans l'île de Vancouver, en Colombie-Britannique. Les prédicteurs comprenaient des facteurs primaires de stress, des ressources personnelles, et des facteurs socio-démographiques. Les exigences en matière de prestation de soins ont été la corrélation la plus significative des obligations particulières aux rôles, et elles avaient une importance indirecte en raison des obligations liées au bien-être général. La résilience avait un rapport important avec les trois résultats. Au cours de l'année de l'étude, les dispensateurs de soins se sont améliorés dans les trois résultats, mais ils n’ont pas réussi à prévoir ce changement. Les résultats suggèrent que les dispensateurs de soins peuvent être à la fois accablés et faire simultanément l'expérience d’un bien-être appréciable ou élevé, ce qui exige de ne pas généraliser à partir d’études limitées uniquement aux obligations des dispensateurs de soins lorsqu’il s’agit de présenter des recommandations sur l'ensemble de la vie de chacune de ces personnes.

Keywords

vieillissementobligationsrésiliencesatisfaction du milieu de viestress ressentiexigences en matière de prestations de soinsagingburdenresiliencelife satisfactionperceived stresscare demands
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Summer/Été 2008 , pp. 169 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2008

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Footnotes

*

Presented at International Sociological Association meetings, Durban, South Africa, Aug. 2006. Funds for this study were provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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