Interpersonal Conflict and Health Perceptions in Long-Distance Caregiving Relationships

Abstract

With job markets expanding globally and life expectancy continually increasing, more demands are being placed on distant relatives to provide care for their aging family members, creating a health care situation known as long-distance caregiving. An online survey explored the relations between negative health perceptions by long-distance caregivers and conflict frequency and conflict strategy usage. The authors observed positive significant relations between distant caregiver negative health perceptions and conflict frequency and usage of the distributive and avoidance conflict strategies. However, they observed no significant associations between distant caregiver negative health perceptions and usage of the two integrative strategies. Implications for long-distance caregiving communication are discussed.