Caregiver burden, health status, and learned resourcefulness of older caregivers

As caregivers undertake caregiving responsibilities over a long period of time, the burdens placed on them could lead to undue stress and affect their health. This correlation study examined the current situations and relationships among caregiver burden, health status, and learned resourcefulness (LR) of older caregivers who care for disabled older adults, and predicted the important factors that affect their caregiver burden. In all, 108 older caregivers were recruited from home care services of two hospitals. Structured questionnaire interviews were applied to collect data: the Caregiver Burden Scale, the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36), and the Rosenbaum's Self-Control Schedule. Results indicated that the caregiver burden was negatively correlated with physical health, mental health, and LR. Physical and mental health were positively correlated with LR. The predictors of caregiver burden included LR, health status, economic status, and activities of daily living, which accounted for 58.60% of the total caregiver burden variance.