Association between caregivers' characteristics and older care recipients' well‐being among Vietnamese immigrant families in the United States

Abstract

We examined the association between caregivers' psychological status and their older family members' (care recipients) mental health in the Vietnamese American community (N = 58 dyads). Logistic regression models were used. Caregivers and care recipients were on average 53 and 75 years old, immigrated at ages 32 and 51, and had 10 and 6 years of formal education, respectively. Approximately two-thirds of caregivers provided care for 20+ h/week for 7 years with the majority of care recipients reporting fair or poor health. Care recipients' physical and cognitive health had a significant association with their depressive symptoms. However, care recipients acting as burdened caregivers' "company" helped themselves and felt less depressed (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80, 0.99). Leveraging the tradition of Vietnamese multigeneration households, we should promote being a good company to each other that will help the caregiver-care recipient dyad, as well as their family unit when planning future interventions.