Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Purpose: There has been a significant increase in the number of caregiving studies including culturally diverse samples (see for example, Knight et al., 2000; Haley, et al., 1995; Morano & Saunders, 2005, Morano & King, 2005). The majority of this research uses aggregate scores from standardized measures that are applied to the stress, appraisal and coping models of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) or Pearlin et al., (1990) and, more recently, the sociocultural model of Knight and colleagues (2000). Although this approach is informative, it does not provide much insight or understanding regarding behaviors appraised by caregivers as more or less burdensome. The purpose of this study is to answer two research questions: 1) Which behaviors of the person with AD do African American, Hispanic, and White non-Hispanic caregivers appraise as most problematic; and 2) What are the differences and similarities in how the three groups appraise the individual indicators of caregiver burden and satisfaction? Methods: This study analyzed data from a total sample (n=347) of African American (n=87), Hispanic (n=113), and White non-Hispanic (147) AD Caregivers to examine responses to the individual indicators on the Appraisal of Burden and Satisfaction Scales (Lawton et al., 1991), and the Problematic Behaviors Scale (Pearlin et al., 1990). Frequency distributions and independent T-Tests were used to answer the research questions. Findings: All three groups of caregivers rated “asks questions repeatedly” as the problematic behavior that occurred most frequently. Hispanic caregivers found the person with AD “clings to me,” African Americans rated “hiding things” and the White caregivers rated “the care receivers agitation” as the next most frequently occurring behaviors. Although difficulty planning things was appraised as the most burdensome by all groups, having no social life was appraised as the second most burdensome by the Hispanic and White caregivers. African American caregivers appraised not having time for themselves as the second most burdensome. Feeling closer to the person with AD, makes me feel happy and providing care gives me pleasure were appraised as the most satisfying by the Hispanic, African American and White caregivers respectively. A total of 4 indicators were found to be more burdensome for White caregivers (p<.05) than for their Hispanic caregivers and a total of 6 indicators were found more burdensome for the White caregivers than their African American counterparts (p <.05). The Hispanic caregivers appraised a total of 4 items as more burdensome than their Hispanic counterparts while the Hispanic caregivers appraised only one item as more burdensome than their African American counterparts (p .05). Implications: The findings of this study support the idea of examining caregivers reactions to specific behaviors. The findings also support a targeted approach to interventions for caregivers aimed at enhancing the independence of the person with AD. For example, managing repetitive questions could help the caregivers from each group, but time management skills for African American caregivers than for other caregivers. Opportunities for increased social interaction might be more helpful for Hispanic and White caregivers than for African American caregivers.