The Relationship Between Religious Attendance, Private Prayer, Religious Coping, Social Support, and Caregiver Burden in Dementia Caregivers

Abstract

Living longer increases the risk of cognitive decline, which can cause individuals to become dependent on caregivers. Due to the stressful nature of caregiving, caregiver burden often negatively impacts the quality of life of caregivers and can even cause premature death. In the present study, we examined the relationships between caregiver burden and social support, religious coping, religious attendance, and participation in private prayer. We hypothesized that each variable would contribute uniquely to caregiver burden, such that greater caregiver burden would be associated with lower religious attendance, private prayer, religious coping, and social support. Fifty-nine dementia/Alzheimer’s caregivers (72% women) completed surveys. In a multiple linear regression analysis, variables explained 24.4% of the variance in caregiver burden, R2 = .24, Adj. R2 = .14, F(7, 49) = 2.26, p = .04. Further examination revealed that lower family support was related to greater caregiver burden (β = −.28, p = .04), consistent with predictions. Counter to our hypothesis, greater participation in private prayer was related to higher levels of caregiver burden, but only at the trend level (β = .39, p = .06). Our data suggest that social support, particularly from family members, can help caregivers burdened from the stressful nature of caregiving.

Responses to Shame: Influences of Adherence to Masculinity Norms

“…Past literature has shown the positive implications of social support on the mental and physical wellbeing of support seekers (e.g., Cohen & Syme, 1985;Uchino, 2008). For example, emotional and instrumental support from family can significantly reduce caregiver burden, which has been linked to severe health issues (Mashinchi et al, 2021). Some studies have also suggested that social support is effective in aiding recovery from disease, adaptation to chronic illness, and degree of psychiatric disturbance (Cohen & McKay, 2020;Uchino, 2008).…”