Shen, Wen-Chi

Background: Family caregivers' distinct depressive-symptom trajectories are understudied and have been examined independently during end-of-life (EOL) caregiving or bereavement, making it difficult to validate two competing hypotheses (wear-and-tear vs. relief) of caregiving effects on bereavement. Existing studies may also miss short-term heterogeneity in depressive symptoms during the immediate postloss period due to lengthy delays in the first postloss assessment.