The context of caregiving, kinship tie and health: a comparative study of caregivers and non-caregivers.

The present study aimed to compare caregiving appraisal and psychological and physical health between caregivers and non-caregivers and between wives or daughters, and to examine the associations of caregiving context variables (intensity, duration, and co-residence) with health. The sample included 201 individually matched pairs of caregivers and non-caregivers, wives and daughters of older patients discharged from the three Internal Medicine wards at Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, Israel, during 2003. Caregivers reported significantly more negative appraisal and poorer health compared with non-caregivers, wives differed from daughters in burden appraisal and had significantly poorer health. Almost no significant interactions of caregiving status by kinship tie were observed, suggesting that caregivers differed from non-caregivers irrespective of kinship tie. The multivariate analyses of health measures by caregiving context revealed that high-intensity caregivers and co-residing daughter caregivers were most vulnerable to poor health. Health services providers need to develop ways for early identification of vulnerable caregivers, providing support and care programs and targeting resources.