Caregivers of Persons with Diverse Health Conditions: Demographics and Burden of Care

Background: Although caregiver identity theory asserts there is no single generic caregiver identity, comparisons on demographic characteristics and burden of care have not been made among caregivers of persons with various health conditions. Methods: Using social media to access study participants, this cross-sectional study of 234 family caregivers of persons with various health conditions examined their demographic characteristics (age, gender, and race/ethnicity) and burden of care (daily care hours and caregiving years) using online data collection. Results: Nine groups of caregivers were formed by the care recipient’s health condition. Caregiver groups were similar in gender (95% women) and race/ethnicity (88% white), and differed on age (F=4.74; p<.001) daily care hours, and caregiving years (F’s=2.76 and 2.84; p<.01). Conclusions: The findings suggest that caution is needed when recruiting caregivers through social media as the sample may not represent all caregivers. However, differences by care recipient condition on age and burden of care warrant further consideration.