In Caring for Older People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, Do Older Caregivers Have a High Level of Care Burden and Psychological Morbidity Compared to Younger Caregivers?

Abstract

Caregivers have become older as longevity increases. Caregiving for older people can cause burdens and psychological morbidity, which are the chronic stresses perceived by informal caregivers. This study aimed to compare the levels of care burden and psychological morbidity between older and younger caregivers in low- and middle-income countries. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and China. Data were collected by the 10/66 Dementia Research Group. The Zarit Burden Inventory was used to measure the levels of burden on caregivers. Psychological morbidity was assessed through the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. Data from 1348 households in which informal caregivers provided home care for one older person were included in the analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the effects of caregiver age upon care burden and psychological morbidity. A fixed-effect meta-analysis model was used to obtain a pooled estimate of the overall odds ratios of each country. The unadjusted and the adjusted model for potential covariates revealed no significant difference in care burden and psychological morbidity between older caregivers and younger caregivers. The adjusted pooled estimates, however, indicated a lower psychological morbidity among older caregivers (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.41–0.93, I2 = 0.0%). The demographic implications of caregiver age may suggest different policy responses across low- and middle-income countries.

Chinese Community Home-Based Aging Institution Elders’ Self-Management of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and Its Interrelationships with Social Support, E-Health Literacy, and Self Efficacy: A Serial Multiple Mediation Model

“…Furthermore, the negative emotions associated with long-term care, the medical costs associated with the treatment of the disease, and the complications caused by improper management all place a great burden on family caregivers, creating a vicious cycle. 50 Therefore, community home-based aging institutions can provide more opportunities for old people with chronic NCDs to participate in society and learn and use various electronic media such as health platforms, WeChat official account, TikTok, community radio to popularize knowledge about diseases, reasonable diet, mental health, physical exercise, medication matters, emergency disposal and other knowledge, to improve the e-health literacy and disease self-management ability of old people. As shown by the serial multiple mediation model, e-health literacy indirectly mediates the relationship between social support and self-management in old people, supporting Hypothesis 2.…”

Gender Disparities in Care Allocation among Informal Elderly Caregivers: A literature Review

“…The findings indicated that home caregivers experienced slightly lower caregiver-related quality of life compared to caregivers in LTC facilities. Several caregiver characteristics, such as being female, younger in age, cohabiting with the care recipient, bearing a higher objective burden, reporting lower self-rated health, and receiving more support, were associated with an increased burden and/or decreased caregiver-related quality of life [28].…”

The moderating effect of care time on care-related characteristics and caregiver burden: differences between formal and informal caregivers of dependent older adults

“…Care-recipient factors influencing care burden were physical disability (11)(12)(13), mental dependency (11), and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (13). Caregiver factors were gender (11), age (13)(14)(15), satisfaction with care (16), caring time (10,17,18), duration of caregiving (11), care attitude (19), and stress (6,11). Lastly, the utilization of community services (20) and perceived social support (11,20) were social factors reported to affect caregiver burden of care.…”