A one-year follow-up study of family caregivers of institutionalized elders with dementia

Abstract

The purpose of this one-year follow-up study was to determine whether the caregiving experience of primary caregivers (N = 142) of institutionalized demented elders changed over time and to identify the factors predictive of caregiver well-being after a year. Based on the stress and coping model of Lazarus and Folkman, five dimensions of this experience were considered: caregivers’ stressors, their cognitive appraisal of these stressors, social support, coping strategies and well-being (psychological distress and positive affect). MANOVA and t test results revealed that two stressors changed over time. The elders’ functional impairment deteriorated and their depressive behaviors decreased. However, there was no change in the appraised disturbance associated with these stressors. Conflicts in informal social support decreased significantly, but there was no change in well-being. More formal support at T1 was predictive of decreased psychological distress and increased positive affect at T2. A coping strategy, the use of affective regulation at T1, was also predictive of increased positive affect at T2. Knowledge of the caregiving experience over time and of predictors of caregiver well-being provides guidelines for interventions that could be directed at this clientele by health care workers in institutional settings.