Resilience Among Caregivers of Injured Service Members: Finding the Strengths in Caregiving.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationships between caregiver resilience and a comprehensive set of sociodemographic and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) predictors among both caregivers and injured service members.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional analysis of an observational cohort.

SETTING

Community dwelling.

PARTICIPANTS

Caregivers (n=87) who provide instrumental or emotional support to injured service members (n=73)(N=160).

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25-item version.

RESULTS

Higher caregiver resilience scores were related to lower depressive symptom severity, greater health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations, stress management, and problem-solving orientation. A multivariable regression model showed that spiritual growth and aspects of problem-solving orientation were significantly related to resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Results highlight the relationships between resilience and spirituality, problem-solving orientation, and aspects of HRQOL among caregivers of injured service members. These findings have important implications for caregiver behavioral health programs designed to promote resilience and draw upon caregiver strengths when taking on a caregiver role. Approaches that include a more integrative medicine or strengths-based emphasis may be particularly beneficial when working with families of injured military.