Association of depressive symptomatology with receipt of informal caregiving among older American Indians: the native elder care study.

OBJECTIVE

Our study objectives were to identify the primary sources of informal caregiving and to examine the association of depressive symptomatology with receipt of informal caregiving among a sample of community-dwelling older American Indians.

DESIGN

We conducted a cross-sectional study of older American Indians.

PARTICIPANTS

Community-dwelling adults aged 55 years and older who are members of a federally recognized American Indian tribe in the Southeast United States.

MEASUREMENTS

We collected information on the participant's primary caregiver, number of informal care hours received in the past week, depressive symptomatology, demographic characteristics, physical health status, and assistance need.

RESULTS

Daughters, spouses, and sons were the most common informal primary caregivers with distinct differences by sex of those receiving care. Compared with participants with lower levels, those with a high level of depressive symptomatology received substantially greater hours of informal care (33.4 versus 11.5 hours per week).

CONCLUSION

Older American Indians with higher levels of depressive symptomatology received more informal caregiving than those with lower depressive symptomatology. The burden of caregiving of older adults is primarily shouldered by spouses and children with those who care for older adults with depressive symptomatology likely experiencing an even greater burden of care.