Mobilization of Social Support in Caregivers of Dementla Patients
Open Access
- Author:
- Cho, Soyeon
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 02, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Steven Howard Zarit, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
David Manuel Almeida, Committee Member
Dr Chalandra M Bryant, Committee Member
Linda Ann Wray, Committee Member - Keywords:
- caregivers
social support
mobilization
family caregiving - Abstract:
- The characteristics of mobilization in five different types of social support among caregivers of dementia patients were examined in this study. The Pearlin¡¯s stress process model and Andersen¡¯s Health behavior model provided the theoretical basis for selecting sociodemographic variables, objective stressors, subjective stressors, and mental health outcomes. Five different types of mobilized social support included mobilized 1) informal instrumental support with patient help, 2) informal instrumental support with household chores, 3) emotional support, 4) formal service use, and 5) institutionalization. The data from the Caregiver Stress and Coping Study (Aneshensel, 1995) were used for the present study. The caregivers were followed longitudinally for five years with one year interval in between. During the five-year interview, caregivers were categorized into continuing care sample if they continued to provide care to their relatives at the time of the interview. If caregivers placed their relatives into nursing home at the time of the interview, caregivers were categorized into placement sample. When relatives passed away, caregivers then were placed into bereavement sample. The current analyses only used Time 1 and Time 2 data. Final sample of 452 caregivers at time 2 were used for this particular study. The study first examined whether mobilization of social support occurred in response to the stressors and if so, whether the predictors were different for each type of social support. The study then examined the mediating effect of mobilized support on the relationship between subjective stressors and caregivers¡¯ mental health. Finally, the study attempted to analyze the moderating effect of mobilized support on caregivers¡¯ mental health under high subjective stressors. Results from the analyses indicated that not all types of social support showed mobilization in response to the stressors. The results also suggested that some types of social support such as formal service use remained stable over time. Finally, the results from the analyses demonstrated that mediating and moderating effects of mobilized social support differed depending on the type of social support. Conclusions were made based on the results of these findings. First, finding that not all types of social support were impacted in response to the stressors over time suggest that each type of mobilized social support has different characteristics. Secondly, it has been assumed that caregivers who experience higher stressors use more support over time. Hence, previously, the effect of social support had been investigated cross-sectionally based on this assumption although the findings were inconsistent. However, the finding that some type of social support especially the formal service use remains low contribute to the explanation why previous research may have shown the inconsistent findings.