Long-term effectiveness of a group program for caregivers of frail elderly veterans.

Long-term results of an evaluation of a multicomponent support-group program for spouses caring for frail elderly veterans indicated that participants experienced significant reductions in subjective burden. As compared to those of the control group, caregivers' perceptions of their husbands' health improved significantly from pretest to one year, while perceptions of their husbands' functioning on measures of instrumental daily activities showed significantly less deterioration in the period from pretest to posttest.