Dementia caregivers’ coping strategies and their relationship to health and well-being: the Cache County Study
- 5 August 2014
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Aging & Mental Health
- Vol. 19 (5), 390-399
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.939610
Abstract
Objectives: Prior research identifies that psychological outcomes among dementia caregivers are associated with their use of coping strategies. Few studies have tested the association of coping and health longitudinally. Method: This study examined factors associated with the use of coping strategies over time and their associations with physical and mental health outcomes in a population-based sample of 226 dementia caregivers in Cache County, Utah, USA. Caregivers annually completed the Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and a health interview. Care-recipient cognitive and functional abilities were obtained using the Mini-Mental State Exam and the Clinical Dementia Rating. Neuropsychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Results: Caregivers most frequently identified providing care as a problem (37.6%). Linear mixed models of caregiver coping strategies found that the use of most strategies were stable except for increasing Avoidance among adult child caregivers (β = 0.14, p = 0.048). On average, increased Wishful Thinking (β = 2.48, p < 0.001) or Blames Self (β = 1.06, p = 0.002) was associated with higher anxiety scores. Increased use of Blames Others among males (interaction, β = 0.28, p = 0.02) and greater use of Wishful Thinking among younger caregivers (interaction, β = −0.01, p = 0.01) were associated with more caregiver health conditions. Coping strategies were not associated with change in anxiety or health conditions over time. Conclusion: Our results emphasize the importance of caregiver coping strategies on caregiver health and well-being and may identify subgroups of persons at risk for worse outcomes.This publication has 48 references indexed in Scilit:
- Progression of Cognitive, Functional, and Neuropsychiatric Symptom Domains in a Population Cohort With Alzheimer Dementia: The Cache County Dementia Progression StudyAmerican Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2011
- The burden of distress in caregivers of elderly demented patients and its relationship with coping strategiesNeurological Sciences, 2008
- Caregiver burden among dementia patient caregivers: A review of the literatureJournal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 2008
- Coping with caring for someone with dementia: Reviewing the literature about menAging & Mental Health, 2008
- The Neuropsychiatric InventoryNeurology, 1994
- The Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): socio-demographic correlates, reliability, validity and some normsPsychological Medicine, 1989
- Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989
- Stress, appraisal, coping, and social support as predictors of adaptational outcome among dementia caregivers.Psychology and Aging, 1987
- Appraisal, coping, health status, and psychological symptoms.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986
- Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's diseaseNeurology, 1984