RESPITE CARE AND PERCEPTIONS OF BURDEN AMONG FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF FRAIL ELDERLY LIVING AT HOME.
Contributors: Peabody College For Teachers Of Vanderbilt University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 67
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Psychology, Social.
Description: This study examined the relationships between various dimensions of respite care and perceptions of burden experienced by family members caring for frail elderly in their homes. A multidimensional perspective on respite care was explored that derived from the assumption that respite care, like other forms of social support, has verifiable independent structural and functional dimensions. The main and stress-buffering effects of these dimensions of respite care were examined.

One hypothesis was that quantity of respite care, a structural feature of a caregiver's support system that reflects general embeddedness in the social network, would exhibit main, or generally beneficial effects on burden. In contrast, functional measures of support related to respite care, such as perceived benefits and satisfaction with quality of respite care, were expected to exert buffering effects on the stressor-burden relationship.

Variables related to caregiver stress, burden related to the functional impairments of elders, and respite care were measured for a sample of 95 users of both formal and informal respite care from a local visiting nurse agency. A rational scale construction technique was employed which provided confirmation for the three hypothesized dimensions of respite care. In analyses which examined main and buffering effects of these dimensions of respite care on the relationship between caregivers' ratings of the elders' need for constant care and perceptions of burden, the hypothesized relationships were disconfirmed, with a main effect only detected for satisfaction with quality of respite care. Implications for public policy and planning in the area of respite care and other family support services are discussed.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-09, Section: B, page: 3917.

Thesis (PH.D.)--PEABODY COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS OF VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0074.