An Examination of Factors Associated with Physical and Emotional Quality of Life in Elderly Caregivers

Backgrounds/Purpose: Along with the increase in the elderly population in the United States, the number of elderly caregivers is also increasing. Among caregivers of adults in the United States, 19 % were 65 years old or above, and as their age rose, they spent the greatest amount of time taking care of their spouses and partners (Caregiving in the U.S., 2015). The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP (2015) reported that 24% of caregivers of adults who provided more than 21 hours of caregiving per week were also 65 years old or above.

Although being an elderly caregiver requires both physical and emotional effort that may have direct influence on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), there is relatively little research that examines elderly caregivers’ risk of poor quality of life and their unmet needs for additional support services. Previous studies were often limited to the general or younger population of caregivers who provided care to elderly adults. Furthermore, many studies focused on care recipients’ needs rather than caregivers’ unmet needs for support in caring for care recipients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of elderly caregivers that can contribute to physical and emotional health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and assessing their needs for support services.

Methods: Using data from the 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the study targeted a sample of 7113 elderly caregivers (aged 65 or above) in the United States. The study used logistic regression analyses to: 1) identify demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, and marital status), socioeconomic (educational attainment and employment status), and caregiver-related factors (relationship between caregiver and care recipient, hours of caregiving, and types of care) that can contribute to poor physical and emotional (HRQoL) outcomes; and, 2)  to examine predictors of a caregiver’s need for additional support services with demographic, socioeconomic, caregiver-related and HRQoL variables.

Results: The present sample of 7113 elderly caregivers demonstrated high prevalence rates of poor physical (37.2%) and emotional (26.5%) HRQoL. In multivariate models of logistic regression, the study confirmed that only the relationship between care provider and care recipient had a statistical significance across both models of physical and emotional HRQoL. Elderly caregiver’s that were caring for a family member had greater odds of experiencing poor HRQoL compared with the odds of experiencing poor HRQoL for elderly caregivers caring for a non-relative. In addition, ethnicity, educational attainment, relationship between caregiver and care recipient, hours of caregiving, types of care, and HRQoL (physical and emotional) were significantly associated with caregiver’s unmet need for support services.

Conclusion/Implications: This study adds to our knowledge concerning factors associated with elderly caregivers HRQoL and their unmet needs for additional services. The study findings suggest that interventions should be developed and targeted toward those elderly caregivers who provide informal care for their family members. Furthermore, a more holistic assessment framework should be developed to inform strategies that include diverse and appropriate programs for elderly caregivers.