“Living Well” Trajectories Among Family Caregivers of People With Mild-to-Moderate Dementia in the IDEAL Cohort

Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy white women

Linda Clare, Laura D Gamble, Anthony Martyr, Serena Sabatini, Sharon M Nelis, Catherine Quinn, Claire Pentecost, Christina Victor, Roy W Jones, Ian R Jones, Martin Knapp, Rachael Litherland, Robin G Morris, Jennifer M Rusted, Jeanette M Thom, Rachel Collins, Catherine Henderson and Fiona E Matthews

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2022, vol. 77, issue 10, 1852-1863

Abstract: ObjectivesUnderstanding whether and how caregivers’ capability to “live well” changes over time, and the factors associated with change, could help target effective caregiver support.MethodsWe analyzed 3 time points (12 months apart) of Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life (IDEAL) cohort data from coresident spouse caregivers of community-dwelling individuals who had mild-to-moderate dementia at baseline, using latent growth and growth mixture models. Capability to “live well” was derived from measures of quality of life, well-being, and satisfaction with life.ResultsData from 995 spouse caregivers at Time 1, 780 at Time 2, and 601 at Time 3 were included. The mean “living well” score decreased slightly over time. We identified 3 classes of caregivers: one with higher baseline scores declining slightly over time (Stable; 66.8%), one with low baseline scores remaining stable (Lower Stable; 26.0%), and one with higher baseline scores showing marked decline (Declining; 7.2%). Scores on baseline measures differentiated the Lower Stable, but not the Declining, from the Stable class. Longitudinally, the Declining class was associated with care recipient cognitive decline and increasing hours providing care, as well as caregiver stress and depression. Findings were similar when caregivers with other kin relationships were included.DiscussionThe findings indicate the importance of prompt identification of, and support for, caregivers at risk of the declining capability to “live well” and may assist in identifying those caregivers who could benefit most from targeted support.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s; Longitudinal; Quality of life; Satisfaction with life; Well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbac090 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:77:y:2022:i:10:p:1852-1863.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().