Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
School of Business, National College of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Qual Life Res. 2019 Aug;28(8):2135-2146. doi: 10.1007/s11136-019-02122-y. Epub 2019 Feb 4.
The burden of caring for a family member or friend can have a negative impact on caregiver health and well-being, yet caring can also have positive consequences. Understanding the factors that may enhance caregiver well-being is merited.
We used data gathered from the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS). Using complete case analysis followed by multiple imputation analysis, a series of multilevel regression models were developed to systematically explore the role of three distinct blocks of factors in predicting caregiver well-being as measured by the WHO-5 well-being index: (1) sociodemographic and health factors, (2) care and burden-related factors, and (3) psychological and social appraisals. Differences between frequent caregivers and the general population were also compared on all measures.
36,908 respondents took part in EQLS, with 4171 (11%) identifying as frequent carers. While frequent caregivers reported lower well-being compared to the remaining population, most were happy with the amount of time spent caring. Our model explained approximately 32% of variance in well-being scores. After examining the role of known risk factors, all positive psychological appraisals were associated with higher well-being (p < .001). In order of magnitude these were optimism, perceived autonomy, sense of purpose, resilience, and perceived levels of social inclusion. Self-rated health was the strongest predictor of well-being while female carers and those with high levels of various burden measures reported lower well-being.
Findings suggest that caregiver well-being is influenced by more than simply the burden of care. As well as attempting to reduce burden, interventions aimed at supporting caregivers could focus on fostering more positive appraisals to enhance well-being in this group.
照顾家庭成员或朋友会给照顾者的健康和幸福感带来负面影响，但照顾也可能带来积极的结果。了解可能增强照顾者幸福感的因素是值得的。
我们使用了欧洲生活质量调查（EQLS）收集的数据。采用完全案例分析和多次插补分析，我们开发了一系列多层次回归模型，系统地探讨了三个不同因素块在预测照顾者幸福感方面的作用，幸福感用 WHO-5 幸福感指数来衡量：（1）社会人口学和健康因素；（2）照顾和负担相关因素；（3）心理和社会评估。还比较了频繁照顾者和一般人群在所有测量指标上的差异。
36908 名受访者参加了 EQLS，其中 4171 名（11%）被确定为频繁照顾者。虽然频繁照顾者的幸福感比其余人群低，但大多数人对照顾所花费的时间感到满意。我们的模型解释了幸福感得分差异的约 32%。在检查了已知风险因素的作用后，所有积极的心理评估都与更高的幸福感相关（p<0.001）。按数量级排列，这些因素依次为乐观、感知自主性、使命感、韧性和感知社会包容度。自评健康是幸福感的最强预测因素，而女性照顾者和那些负担较重的照顾者报告的幸福感较低。
研究结果表明，照顾者的幸福感不仅仅受到照顾负担的影响。除了试图减轻负担外，旨在支持照顾者的干预措施可以侧重于培养更积极的评估，以提高这一群体的幸福感。
