Department of Psychology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, North Blackford Street, LD, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Ann Behav Med. 2021 Oct 27;55(11):1130-1143. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaab007.
Many informal caregivers experience significant caregiving burden and report worsening health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Caregiver HRQoL may vary by disease context, but this has rarely been studied.
Informed by the Model of Carer Stress and Burden, we compared HRQoL outcomes of prevalent groups of caregivers of people with chronic illness (i.e., dementia, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD]/emphysema, and diabetes) and noncaregivers and examined whether caregiving intensity (e.g., duration and hours) was associated with caregiver HRQoL.
Using 2015-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, we identified caregivers of people with dementia (n = 4,513), cancer (n = 3,701), COPD/emphysema (n = 1,718), and diabetes (n = 2,504) and noncaregivers (n = 176,749). Regression analyses were used to compare groups.
Caregiver groups showed small, nonsignificant differences in HRQoL outcomes. Consistent with theory, all caregiver groups reported more mentally unhealthy days than noncaregivers (RRs = 1.29-1.61, ps < .001). Caregivers of people with cancer and COPD/emphysema reported more physically unhealthy days than noncaregivers (RRs = 1.17-1.24, ps < .01), and caregivers of people with diabetes reported a similar pattern (RR = 1.24, p = .01). However, general health and days of interference of poor health did not differ between caregivers and noncaregivers. Across caregiver groups, most caregiving intensity variables were unrelated to HRQoL outcomes; only greater caregiving hours were associated with more mentally unhealthy days (RR = 1.13, p < .001).
Results suggest that HRQoL decrements associated with caregiving do not vary substantially across chronic illness contexts and are largely unrelated to the perceived intensity of the caregiving. Findings support the development and implementation of strategies to optimize caregiver health across illness contexts.
许多非正式照顾者承受着巨大的照顾负担，并报告称其健康相关生活质量（HRQoL）恶化。照顾者的 HRQoL 可能因疾病背景而异，但这一点很少被研究过。
根据照顾者压力和负担模型，我们比较了患有慢性疾病（即痴呆、癌症、慢性阻塞性肺疾病/肺气肿和糖尿病）的患者的常见照顾者群体和非照顾者的 HRQoL 结果，并研究了照顾强度（例如，持续时间和小时数）是否与照顾者的 HRQoL 相关。
使用 2015-2018 年行为风险因素监测系统的数据，我们确定了痴呆症患者（n = 4513）、癌症患者（n = 3701）、慢性阻塞性肺疾病/肺气肿患者（n = 1718）和糖尿病患者（n = 2504）的照顾者群体和非照顾者群体（n = 176749）。回归分析用于比较组间差异。
照顾者群体在 HRQoL 结果方面表现出较小的、无统计学意义的差异。与理论一致，所有照顾者群体报告的心理健康问题天数均多于非照顾者（RR = 1.29-1.61，p <.001）。癌症和慢性阻塞性肺疾病/肺气肿患者的照顾者报告的身体健康问题天数多于非照顾者（RR = 1.17-1.24，p <.01），而糖尿病患者的照顾者则报告了类似的模式（RR = 1.24，p =.01）。然而，照顾者和非照顾者的一般健康状况和健康状况不佳的天数没有差异。在所有照顾者群体中，大多数照顾强度变量与 HRQoL 结果无关；只有更多的照顾时间与更多的心理健康问题有关（RR = 1.13，p <.001）。
结果表明，与照顾相关的 HRQoL 下降在不同的慢性疾病背景下并没有显著差异，并且与照顾的感知强度基本无关。这些发现支持在不同疾病背景下制定和实施优化照顾者健康的策略。
Zotero 插件