RESOURCES AND EXPERIENCES AMONG DIVERSE DEMENTIA CAREGIVERS BY GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT

Abstract

Abstract Rural caregivers are often underserved by caregiving services, yet little is known about how the intersectionality of geographic context and race/ethnicity relates to caregiving resources among dementia caregivers. We examined whether 1) caregiving resources and experiences differ across metro and non-metro areas; and 2) the use of caregiving resources is associated with geographic context by race/ethnicity, controlling for age, gender, and education. We analyzed a sample of caregivers of care recipients aged 65 years or older with ‘probable’ dementia (n= 808) in the 2017 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the associated National Study of Caregiving (NSOC). We defined geographic context by the recipient’s residence in metro (urban) or non-metro (rural) counties and grouped formal (respite care, support groups, caregiving training) and informal (family or friend help) resources. Among minority caregivers, 47% of those living in metro and 36% in non-metro areas used a formal service, and 83% and 72%, respectively, used informal resources. Among White caregivers, estimates were 44%, 48%, 76%, and 66%, respectively. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that non-metro White dementia caregivers had 2.04 times higher odds (95% CI=1.10-3.78) of using formal resources than metro White dementia caregivers. This pattern was not observed among minority dementia caregivers. The use of informal resources did not differ across geographic contexts by race/ethnicity. Findings suggest the influence of geographic context on the use of formal caregiving resources varies by race/ethnicity. With higher rates of dementia in non-metro areas, formal caregiving resources among non-metro minority dementia caregivers need more attention.