A causal functional explanation of maintaining a dependent elder in the community

A causal functional structure demonstrates how a perpetual process, like caregiving, maintains itself. The caregiver functional learning model was used to identify factors influencing caregivers when maintaining dependent elders in the community. These factors include seriousness of illness, power, burden, care quality, self-assurance, an understanding of the elder's needs, and time spent in caregiving. This five-stage theoretical model was tested using a sample of 70 caregivers. Findings supported two of the theoretical relationships: seriousness of illness (beta = .60) with burden (R2 = 0.35), and self-assurance (beta = .36) with time (R2 = 0.18). Three new relationships were added with the empirical model: power (beta = .48) with burden (R2 = 0.52), seriousness of illness (beta = .36) with self-assurance (R2 = 0.11), and burden (beta = .33) with time (R2 = 0.24). A causal functional structure can be used to explain how the phenomenon of caregiving maintains itself.