Use of Home Care Services Reduces Care-Related Strain in Long-Distance Caregivers

Prior work examining the role of older adult home care service use in alleviating strain in family caregivers has resulted in contradictory findings. However, prior research has been entirely limited to caregivers who live within close geographical proximity to their care recipients. Long-distance caregivers are a unique caregiving subgroup that has remained understudied. Guided by the stress process model, this study examined if the association between primary caregiving stressors (the care recipient's functional and cognitive status) and secondary stressors (perceived role strains related to work and to other family responsibilities) in long-distance caregivers was mediated by the care recipient's utilization of home care services.

The sample included 166 long-distance caregivers in the United States who provide and manage care to a community-dwelling care recipient living 2 or more hours away. Participants reported on their care recipient's cognitive and functional status, perceived interference of caregiving with work and other family responsibilities, and the care recipient's use of home care services.

Path analyses show that home care use by the care recipient fully mediated the association between care recipients' functional impairment and caregiver strains (work and family). Furthermore, home care use partially mediated the effects of care recipients' cognitive impairment on caregiver strains.

Results indicate that the care recipient's home care service utilization may serve as a protective factor against care-related strain in long-distance caregivers. These findings can be used to inform intervention efforts focused on a family-centered care approach that can be specifically tailored to long-distance caregivers.