Predictors of burden among wife caregivers

The relationship of caregiver health, past marital adjustment, as well as received social support to caregiving burden was studied in 78 wives who served as primary caregivers to husbands with irreversible memory impairment for an average of 4 years and 10 months. In addition, socioeconomic status and attitudes toward asking for help were investigated. This paper is based on the same data set as a previous article that focused on depression. Past marital adjustment was a significant (p less than .001) predictor of subjective burden and accounted for 20% of the total explained variance (22%). Socioeconomic status and attitude toward asking for help were the significant (p less than .001) predictors of objective burden and accounted for 12% of the total variance (17%). Received social support did not predict caregiver adjustment. The finding that past marital adjustment was significantly related to subjective burden suggests that caregivers with unhappy past marriages may need intervention in order to reframe past grievances in their marriages. Findings regarding social status indicate that caregivers with a higher income could purchase services, thus decreasing the amount of disruption in their lives and households.