Burden, Mood States, Social Support and Proactive Coping in Caregivers of Elderly Adults

Abstract

This study examined the relationships among caregiver burden, proactive coping, social support, and mood states in 154 female family caregivers from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Participants completed standardized measures of caregiver burden, proactive coping, multidimensional social support, and mood states, as well as open-ended questions about their stress experience. Higher burden was associated with greater negative mood indicators, including anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, and tension, and with lower emotional and practical support. Proactive coping was not significantly related to burden, though it was associated with lower depression. Spousal caregivers reported greater burden than non-spousal caregivers, and caring for cognitively confused elders was linked to higher time, developmental, and physical burden than caring for more lucid elders. Qualitative responses emphasized stress stemming from relatives’ physical or mental decline, feelings of guilt, changes in the caregiver–recipient relationship, and the constant demands of caregiving. Collectively, the results illuminate the challenges inherent in the caregiver role and provide insights into which caregivers are more likely to experience burden and the nature of this burden. The implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.