Positive and negative caregiver appraisal and caregiver health outcomes / by Sarah A. Vernon-Scott.

Abstract

"The current study examined the role that positive appraisal (i.e., gain) and negative appraisal (i.e., burden) of caregiving can play in understanding caregivers' physical and mental health outcomes. Gender and kinship were examined to investigate any differences in caregiving appraisals or health outcomes. Secondary analyses of two databases, Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer Caregiver Health (REACH) and the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) were conducted. Positive appraisal and negative appraisal were established as separate constructs that both change over time. These findings were contributed to the understanding of this newer variable. Adding positive appraisal at the last step of a hierarchical regression after demographics and negative appraisal improved the prediction of caregivers' anxiety, but not other health outcomes (i.e., self-rated health, number of illnesses diagnosed, and depression). Negative social interactions emerged as a significant predictor of health outcomes. Surprisingly, some robust findings from the literature were not replicated. In both databases, women did not report more burden than men. Women caring for men (as opposed to other combinations of caregivers and care recipients) did not report significantly more caregiver burden."--from Abstract