Family caregiver support and hospitalizations of patients with heart failure.

This study aimed to expand understanding of hospitalizations involving patients with heart failure by considering characteristics of the caregiver as a facet of the problem. In face-to-face interviews, 41 caregivers registered agreement or disagreement on a Likert scale of items associated with caregiver depressive symptoms, caregiver appraisal, and perceptions of patient disease severity. Correlation and regression analyses showed lack of family support, increased care hours at home, and greater perceived patient disease severity to be associated with higher rates of hospitalizations for patients with heart failure.