The role of social support on caregiving experiences among dementia caregivers: a latent class analysis
Authors:   , Park Geunhye 
Published: February 2023

Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older adults and the care provided to people with dementia is wide-ranging and all-encompassing. Many dementia care recipients reply heavily upon their informal caregivers for support. Caring for older adults with dementia can bring both positive and negative experiences to informal caregivers, and strong social support is imperative. Greater support is required that matches the levels of care provided by dementia caregivers, and it could be crucial for designing tailored interventions based on their specific demands. However, dementia caregivers experience barriers in receiving proper support. Compared to caregivers of non-dementia care recipients, dementia caregivers have lower service use to assist their caregiving role. Receiving various types of support seems to be an essential factor that can shape dementia caregivers' experiences, the quality of care provided, and outcomes of the care recipient. Despite of the importance of the role of social support and benefits that can be leveraged, it has been oftentimes overlooked in this area. Therefore, the current study identifies dementia caregiving subclasses by caregiving burden and benefits and examines the association between social support and the subclasses of dementia caregivers. For classifying the latent classes of dementia caregivers on caregiving burden and benefits, a latent class analysis (LCA) is employed. Using a LCA can be useful for specific subgroups of dementia caregivers to be identified because better understanding specific needs of dementia caregivers can be directly associated with caregiver well-being and care recipient's health. In addition to identify subgroups of dementia caregivers, this study uses multinomial logistic regression, examining the association between social support and the latent classes, controlling for other variables. As a result, five subgroups of dementia caregivers are identified - Intensive Caregiver Group, Relationship Caregiver Group, Emotional Caregiver Group, Socioemotional Caregiver Group, and Satisfied Caregiver Group. Also, the regression results showed that the specific social support played different roles on each latent subgroup. The Relationship Caregiver Group reporting high burden in relationship with the care recipient, for example, sought to informational support including service/training/education for better supporting their loved ones. The Relationship Caregiver Group was more likely to include adult children as primary caregiver than the referent group, and adult children were more likely to use informational support. These results are similar to the findings from prior studies indicating adult children are more likely to feel difficult to provide care to their sick parent than older/spousal caregivers and need mastery skills to better care for their loved ones. The results of this study will let us to understand the heterogeneity of informal caregiving experiences for older adults with dementia and tailored social support/program should be considered to meet individual needs that help define their overall caregiving experiences, reduce caregiving burden and increase caregiving benefits.