Caregiving–Informal

Development and evaluation of supportive caregiver interventions has become a national priority. This study's aim was to evaluate how caregivers participating in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Caregiver Support Program (CSP) use and value supportive services. Qualitative semi-structured interviews ( N = 50 caregivers) were the core of a mixed-methods design, and surveys ( N = 160) were supplemental.

Purpose of the Study We examined the effect of daily stress, affect, and adult day service (ADS) use on the daily pain experience among caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD). Participants were interviewed for 8 consecutive days. Caregivers utilized an ADS program on some days and provided care at home on other days. We hypothesized ADS use, care-related and noncare-related subjective stress, and affect would significantly influence and interact in ways to exacerbate or buffer the experience of daily pain.

Background and Objectives: Structural features of formal care systems influence the amount, difficulty, and complexity of what carers do as they interface with those systems. In this study, we explored how carers navigate health and social care systems, and their experiences of structural burden related to features such as complexity and fragmentation.

Shortly after I received my first R01 grant to study the health effects of caregiving, my sister and I became caregivers to our father. For the next 13 years, we helped him with activities of daily living (ADLs), accompanied him to doctors’ appointments, arranged for home health care, and finally for home hospice. At first, I was able to connect our assistance with ADLs, frustration with coordinating his care, and our psychological stress with my epidemiologic studies.