DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF STRESS, ANXIETY, BURNOUT AND SOCIAL SUPPORT IN LAY CAREGIVERS OF ADULT CHRONICALLY-ILL FAMILY MEMBERS (HOME HEALTH).
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 281
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This research project was a descriptive study of stress, anxiety, burnout and social support reported by lay caregivers of adult chronically-ill family members. The purpose of the study was to quantitatively measure the stresses of caregivers of adult chronically-ill family members and to determine if the degree of stress of caregivers was related to their manifestations of anxiety and burnout, and if the degree of perceived social support had an inverse relationship to the manifestations of anxiety and burnout in subjects. Family members as caregivers had been previously studied in mainly large qualitative descriptive studies.

Fifty-one family caregiver subjects completed the four questionnaires of the study: (1) The Caregiver (Stressor) Inventory (CSI) (specifically designed for this study), (2) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), (3) (Modified) Maslach Burnout Inventory, and (4) Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ).

Findings revealed that the degree of distress related to caregiving experiences as measured on the Caregiver (Stressor) Inventory (CSI) were positively correlated to measures of caregivers' manifestations of that stress as anxiety and burnout. Scores on the CSI measurement of caregiver distress correlated positively to State and Trait Anxiety scores, as well as to the Emotional Exhaustion, and Depersonalization components of burnout. State and Trait Anxiety were negatively correlated to length of caregiving time. Depersonalization was negatively correlated to the caregiver's age.

It was found that social support as Affect and Affirmation was negatively correlated to State and Trait Anxiety. Social support as Affirmation was positively correlated to Personal Accomplishment as a component of burnout. Higher degrees of Personal Accomplishment indicated less burnout. Caregivers' concerns such as insufficient sleep, being cut off from friends, and financial obligations were among the variables that were predictors of anxiety and burnout levels in caregiver subjects.

It was concluded that the degree of stress experienced by caregivers was related to their perceptions of their situation and not the degree of dependency of their patients. Findings indicated that family caregivers provide care at an emotional cost to themselves. The stress that caregivers experience is a potential threat to their health and well-being as well as that of their ill family members.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-11, Section: B, page: 3783.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1985.

School code: 0227.