DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF THE CAREGIVING RELATIONSHIP (SOCIAL EXCHANGE, ELDER CARE).
Contributors: Medical College of Georgia.
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 235
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Psychology, Social.; Gerontology.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine selected caregiver and care receiver characteristics which may influence perceived quality of the dyadic caregiving relationship. The theoretical model evolved from reciprocity and social exchange theories and the theoretical and empirical caregiving literature. A purposive sample of 100 elderly care receivers and their family caregivers was selected for this study. Caregiving dyads were narrowed to community residing, cognitively intact care receivers, age 60 and over, and their spouse or adult daughter/daughter-in-law caregivers. Care receivers were assisted with two or more activities of daily living three times per week or more. Approximately half of the study dyads were spouses.

Caregiver characteristics included social and economic resources, physical and emotional health, and length of time as caregiver. Care receiver characteristics included social and economic resources, physical, functional, and emotional health, and length of time as care receiver. The concept of perceived reciprocity was used as a measure of quality of the caregiving relationship. Four dimensions of reciprocity were examined. These were caregiver perceived reciprocity, care receiver perceived reciprocity, intradyadic congruence of perceived reciprocity, and dyadic perceived reciprocity. Regression analyses revealed that lower caregiver depression, higher caregiver social and economic resources, and higher care receiver depression predicted caregiver perceived reciprocity. When examining dyadic perceived reciprocity, high care receiver depression was again a significant predictor of reciprocity. However, an interaction (cross-product) of both caregiver and care receiver depression showed that when both members of the dyad had low levels of depression, dyadic perceived reciprocity increased. Dyadic perceptions of reciprocity were congruent between caregivers and care receivers in the study; however, with-in dyad levels of perceived reciprocity were different.

Dyadic descriptions of caregiving relationships reflected strong commitments to caregiving relationships and strong bonds of attachment. Quality of these relationships provides benefits which may help sustain caregiving. Longitudinal research is needed to determine the effects of caregiver and care receiver depression over time on quality of the caregiving relationship. Studies are also needed to investigate how quality of the caregiving relationship influences decisions to maintain or terminate caregiving.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-10, Section: B, page: 6181.

Thesis (PH.D.)--MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA, 1996.

School code: 0305.