First Advisor

Dalton Miller-Jones

Term of Graduation

Fall 1999

Date of Publication

10-15-1999

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Subjects

Caregivers -- United States, Dementia -- United States, Older people -- Care -- United States, Older African Americans -- Care -- United States

Physical Description

1 online resource (68 pages)

Abstract

The family is recognized as an important social unit in society. Traditionally, one role played by family members is that of providing long term care. The demands of prolonged caregiving can lead to increased role strain and negative health outcomes for caregivers. Little research has addressed the diversity among caregivers' racial, cultural or ethnic backgrounds. This study investigates the differential impacts of caregiver role strain among Americans of African and European descent.

A hierarchical multiple regression was used to determine if African American caregivers report less caregiver role strain than White caregivers and if higher socioeconomic status is associated with greater strain. The sample included 101 primary caregivers recruited from both the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland Oregon Vancouver Washington metropolitan communities. The subjects completed the Family Caregiving Inventory. This Inventory contained 8 measures important in family caregiving: (a) ADL needs; (b) care receiver's memory problems; (c) care receiver's disruptive behavior; ( d) caregiver's racial background; ( e) caregiver's socioeconomic status; (f) caregiver's health; (g) caregiver's mutuality; and (h) amount of direct care. These eight predictors influence the four outcomes: (I) strain from direct care; (j) strain from worry; (k) strain from lack of resources; and (l) global strain.

Race did not explain any variance in strain from direct care, worry and lack of resources. Global strain was significant and revealed that African American caregivers experienced less global strain than Whites. The caregiver SES predictor explained less than 2 percent ofthe variance on all ofthe outcome variables none of which were significant. The results tend to support a cultural rather than a socioeconomic explanation for the between group differences.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44691

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