Positive aspects of caregiving attenuate the relationship between behavioral bother and anxiety and depressive symptoms in dementia family caregivers
Abstract
Aim
To examine the protective role of positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) in terms of whether it dampens the relationship between behavioral bother and anxiety/depressive symptoms.
Methods
The baseline data of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health I trial were used. US dementia family caregivers (N = 1222) responded to standard self-report measures of PAC, behavioral bother, depression, anxiety, challenging behaviors, and functional impairment. The buffering effect of PAC was tested using moderational regression.
Results
Controlling for caregivers' age, sex and behavioral bother, and care-recipients' challenging behaviors and functional impairment, PAC was mildly inversely related to depressive and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, a significant PAC × behavioral bother interaction effect was found such that the relationship between behavioral bother, on the one hand, and depression and anxiety, on the other, became weaker with higher PAC. In particular, when behavioral bother was low, depressive and anxiety symptoms were similar regardless of levels of PAC. But when behavioral bother was high, caregivers who reported higher levels of PAC were less depressed and anxious than those with lower levels, with their standardized mean differences being small to moderate.
Conclusions
PAC was found to be associated with less mood symptoms partly directly and partly through modifying the effect of behavioral bother on depression and anxiety. Caregivers who were highly troubled by the relative's challenging behaviors, but who found higher levels of PAC at the same time, experienced better emotional well-being. Having PAC may make the burden of caregiving more tolerable, thereby alleviating caregiver distress down the road. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 366–370.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data can be downloaded from the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACDA/studies/3253 or https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03253.v1).