Socioeconomic and Demographic Disparities in Caregiving Intensity and Quality of Life in Informal Caregivers: A First Look at the National Study of Caregiving

Abstract

Informal caregiving is an integral component of the health care system, saving the national economy more than $522 billion annually. The current study examined how the association between caregiving intensity and caregiver quality of life varies by sociodemographic factors through a secondary analysis of the National Study of Caregiving. Generalized linear models assessed the associations among four aspects of caregiving intensity, three aspects of caregiver quality of life, and key sociodemographic factors. Compared to White individuals, Black individuals had higher levels of overall caregiving intensity (β = 0.293, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.140, 0.447]), number of instrumental activities of daily living performed (β = 0.060, 95% CI [0.030, 0.090]), and hours spent caregiving per month (β = 0.025, 95% CI [0.002, 0.049]), yet experienced significantly fewer negative impacts on quality of life. Understanding how informal caregiving affects caregiver quality of life is critical to inform public health policies and programs designed to support caregivers and protect this critical component of the U.S. health care system. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(6), 17-24.].

Income-based inequalities in caregiving time and depressive symptoms among older family caregivers under the Japanese long-term care insurance system: A cross-sectional analysis

“…Regarding the association between income and caregiving hours, our findings were consistent with previous studies [ 17 , 37 ]; in addition, although few studies have examined the association between SES and caregiving hours in Japan, our finding was consistent with a previous study [ 25 ].…”

“…This implies that the observed disparity in caregivers may be caused by other hardships rather than by caregiving itself. Another possibility is that the caregivers with a lower income are more resilient to caregiving stress [ 37 ], such as long caregiving hours. Consequently, our findings suggest no evidence for the necessity to develop a program exclusively for caregivers with a lower income without coping with disparity in the whole older population.…”

Effects of a Telehealth Early Palliative Care Intervention for Family Caregivers of Persons With Advanced Heart Failure

“…Furthermore, slightly more than half of the sample was African American, a population that has been observed in prior studies to have lower levels of distress and higher quality of life compared with white populations (despite reporting higher levels of caregiving intensity). 30,31 As observed in Table 2, the mean scores for anxiety, depression, and objective, demand, and stress burden were all below the cut points for clinical importance. Only 21 of the 158 caregiver participants (13.3%) had depressive symptom scores greater than the clinical threshold at baseline.…”

Sociodemographic Disparities in Adult Child Informal Caregiving Intensity in the United States: Results from the New National Study of Caregiving

“…Four demographic characteristics of caregiver respondents identified in previous studies of caregiving intensity were assessed, to include caregiver age, gender, race/ethnicity, and annual household income (Navaie-Waliser, Spriggs, & Feldman, 2002;Navaie-Waliser, et al, 2002;Fredman, Doros, Ensrud, Hochberg, & Cauley, 2009;Cohen, Cook, Sando, Brown, & Longo, 2017).…”

“…Other key confounders and covariates commonly used in studies of disparities in caregiver intensity and are shown to affect caregiver intensity, including caregiver marital status (Brody, Litvin, Hoffman, & Kleban, 1995;Dentinger & Clarkberg, 2002), presence of a child (under 18) living in the home (Cohen, Cook, Sando, Brown, & Longo, 2017;Grundy & Henretta, 2006), and caregiver co-resident status (care recipient and caregiver reside in same home) (Tennstedt, Crawford, & McKinlay, 1993) were also assessed.…”