Stability and Change in the Informal Task Support Network of Frail Older Persons

Abstract

This study examines predictors of stability and change in composition, size, and intensity of help of the informal task support networks of frail elders and their primary caregivers. The sources of data are the 1982 and 1984 National Long Term Care Surveys and the companion 1982 Informal Caregivers Survey. There was slightly more stability than change in the size and composition of family task support networks. We found little evidence that shifts in network composition were in the direction of including more distant kin. Changes in network size and intensity of help occurred in response to changes in health and functional status of the frail older person, but not in response to the level of burden of the primary caregiver.