Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 53, Issue 3 P165-P174, Copyright © 1998 by The Gerontological Society of America
Associations among caregiving difficulties, burden, and rewards in caregivers to older post-rehabilitation patients
SE Riedel, L Fredman and P Langenberg
Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.
The associations between self-reported rewards and difficulties of
caregiving and burden were examined in a sample of 200 informal caregivers
to older post-rehabilitation patients. Sixteen percent (16%) of caregivers
reported that caregiving was physically difficult only, 15% reported
emotional difficulties only, 11% reported social difficulties only, 17%
reported multiple difficulties, and 40% had no difficulties. Each type of
difficulty (e.g., social, emotional, and physical) was significantly
associated with burden in univariate and multiple linear regression
analyses, controlling for confounding characteristics. Caregivers reporting
multiple types of difficulty experienced higher levels of burden than
caregivers who reported only one type of difficulty. Caregivers who
received more rewards from caregiving reported fewer difficulties.
Caregiving rewards had no independent effect on burden but modified the
associations between social and emotional difficulties and burden. In
summary, caregiving rewards and difficulties were not mutually exclusive,
and their relationship in turn affected burden.
