Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
Center for Healthy Aging, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Feb 3;77(2):295-299. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbab086.
We investigated whether spousal caregivers' greater perception of being appreciated by their partner for their help was associated with caregivers' better mental health and whether caregivers' higher role overload was related to their poorer mental health. We further evaluated whether spousal caregivers' greater perceived gratitude buffered the association between their role overload and mental health.
We examined 306 spousal caregivers of older adults with chronic illness or disability, drawn from the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Study of Caregiving. We defined mental health as better psychological well-being and less psychological distress (i.e., fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms). Hierarchical regression models were estimated to test hypotheses.
Greater perceived gratitude was associated with better psychological well-being, and higher role overload was related to poorer psychological well-being and greater psychological distress. In addition, greater perceived gratitude buffered the associations between role overload and anxiety symptoms as well as psychological well-being.
Findings suggest that spousal caregivers' role overload may be a strong risk factor for their poorer mental health, especially when caregivers feel less appreciated by their partner. Couple-oriented interventions to improve spousal caregivers' mental health could be aimed at reducing their role overload and enhancing perceived gratitude.
我们研究了配偶照顾者对伴侣因帮助而表示赞赏的感知程度是否与其心理健康状况的改善有关，以及照顾者的角色负担过重是否与其心理健康状况较差有关。我们还评估了配偶照顾者感知到的感激之情是否能缓冲角色负担过重与心理健康之间的关联。
我们调查了来自 2011 年国家健康老龄化趋势研究和国家护理研究的 306 名老年慢性病或残疾患者的配偶照顾者。我们将心理健康定义为更好的心理幸福感和更少的心理困扰（即更少的抑郁和焦虑症状）。使用层次回归模型来检验假设。
更大的感知感激与更好的心理幸福感有关，而更高的角色负担过重与较差的心理幸福感和更大的心理困扰有关。此外，更大的感知感激缓冲了角色负担过重与焦虑症状以及心理幸福感之间的关联。
研究结果表明，配偶照顾者的角色负担过重可能是其心理健康状况较差的一个重要危险因素，尤其是当照顾者感到伴侣对自己的赞赏不够时。以夫妻为导向的干预措施可以改善配偶照顾者的心理健康，旨在减轻他们的角色负担过重并增强感知到的感激之情。
