Providing care for an older family member is a common experience for women and has been linked with increased depression, anxiety, and stress for some caregivers. This study aimed to investigate the role of self-reassurance and self-efficacy for controlling upsetting thoughts in mitigating the negative effects of caregiving stressors on mental health.

Measures were collected during a pre-intervention assessment for a larger study in the U.S.A. evaluating online interventions for intergenerational caregivers. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine the contribution of self-reassurance and self-efficacy for controlling upsetting thoughts on mental health outcomes, after controlling for caregiving-related contextual variables and stressors.

Participants completed online questionnaires on a computer or tablet at their convenience.

Participants were 150 help-seeking adult women providing health-care assistance to older relatives living in the community.

Measures were completed for the mental health outcomes of depression, anxiety, and stress. Measures also included contextual factors of caregiving and demographics. Cognitive impairment, caregiver assistance, role overload, percentage of care provided, family conflict, self-reassurance, and self-efficacy for controlling upsetting thoughts were also measured.

Regression models revealed that both self-reassurance and self-efficacy for controlling upsetting thoughts predicted depression, anxiety, and perceived stress after controlling for caregiving contextual factors and stressors.

The results indicate that self-reassurance and self-efficacy for controlling upsetting thoughts are effective resources linked to mental health outcomes. Although results were obtained with cross-sectional data, these findings suggest the potential of targeting these resources in transdiagnostic interventions for family caregivers.

The impact of dementia-related stressors and strains have been examined for their potential to threaten the well-being of either the person with dementia or the family care partner, but rarely have studies considered the dyadic nature of well-being in dementia. The purpose of this study was to examine the dyadic effects of multiple dimensions of strain on the well-being of dementia care dyads.

Using multilevel modeling to account for the inter-relatedness of individual well-being within dementia care dyads, we examined cross-sectional responses collected from 42 dyads comprised of a hospitalized patient diagnosed with a primary progressive dementia (PWD) and their family care partner (CP). Both PWDs and CPs self-reported on their own well-being using measures of quality of life (QOL-Alzheimer’s Disease scale) and depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale).

In adjusted models, the PWD’s well-being (higher QOL and lower depressive symptoms) was associated with significantly less strain in the dyad’s relationship. The CP’s well-being was associated with significantly less care-related strain and (for QOL scale) less relationship strain.

Understanding the impact of dementia on the well-being of PWDs or CPs may require an assessment of both members of the dementia care dyad in order to gain a complete picture of how dementia-related stressors and strains impact individual well-being. These results underscore the need to assess and manage dementia-related strain as a multi-dimensional construct that may include strain related to the progression of the disease, strain from providing care, and strain on the dyad’s relationship quality.

In China, as is the case in most of the world, family is the largest source of support for frail older adults. Confucian filial piety expectations hold children-in particular sons-responsible for the care of aging parents in China. During the course of caregiving, in addition to positive feelings, the caregiver may feel overwhelmed, entrapped, and worried about their performance, which can have negative health consequences. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine one dimension of caregiver burden “worry about performance” (WaP) and investigate whether variables inspired by Pearlin's Stress Process Model help to explain the variation of WaP, so that at-risk caregivers can be identified and supported.

Multiple regression was used to analyze CLHLS data from 895 Chinese adult children providing care for their oldest old parent in eight coastal provinces in China. WaP was measured by two items from the Zarit Burden Inventory. Independent variables representing concepts from Pearlin's Stress Process Model and control variables were included in the models.

Compared to a model of control variables only, using independent variables inspired by Pearlin's Stress Process Model increased the ability to explain the variation in WaP by three fold to 14%. The following variables increased WaP: parent's IADL level, the amount of time spent caregiving, being a daughter, reporting an emotionally close relationship with the parent, sharing a residence with the parent.

Despite not being able to fully operationalize Pearlin's Model with this dataset, analyzing variables that represent concepts from the model was useful in increasing the ability to explain the variation in WaP. Results suggest that caregiver support directed at daughters may be particularly beneficial.