Spousal caregiving

Background: Several empirical studies have shown an association between informal care-giving for adults and loneliness or social isolation. Nevertheless, a systematic review is lacking synthesizing studies which have investigated these aforementioned associations. Objectives: Therefore, our purpose was to give an overview of the existing evidence from observational studies. Materials and Methods: Three electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL) were searched in June 2021.

Objective How does caregivers' life satisfaction shift upon the recovery of an ill spouse? Paradoxically, there is a greater increase in life satisfaction upon death than recovery of a spouse. Our analysis explores this paradox. Method We follow the two groups of exiting caregivers longitudinally for 4 years from when the partner is still in need of care until the death (N = 152) or recovery (N = 112) of a previously ill partner, comparing their trajectory of life satisfaction.

Many studies reveal a gender gap in spousal care during late life. However, this gap could be an artifact of methodological limitations (small and unrepresentative cross-sectional samples). Using a data set that overcomes these limitations, we re-examine the question of gender differences in spousal care and housework adjustment when a serious illness occurs.We use biannual waves between 2001 and 2015 of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and growth curve analyses.

Objectives: We examine gender differences in the experienced burden of partner caregivers using the stress-appraisal model. Gender differences can be explained by differences in conditions of burden (primary stressors, help from others, hours of caregiving, and secondary stressors) and how strong their effects are.; Method: The data are from the Netherlands' Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey-Minimum Data Set (N = 1,611 caregivers).