The Role of Preparedness for Caregiving on the Relationship Between Caregiver Distress and Potentially Harmful Behaviors. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • This work extends research suggesting a link between indicators of distress among informal caregivers (CG) (e.g., depression and burden), and potentially harmful behaviors (PHB), including feeling like yelling or screaming at the care recipient (CR). We tested three hypotheses regarding the role of a novel predictor, CG preparedness for caregiving, which were: 1) a direct effect between CG preparedness and PHB, 2) CG distress mediates the relationship between the direct effect of CG preparedness on PHB, and finally, 3) CG preparedness is only related to PHB through their shared associations with indicators of caregiver distress, an indirect effects model. Examining two indicators of PHB and CG depression and CG burden, results supported the indirect effects model. Higher CG preparedness was associated with lower CG distress, which in turn was associated with lower risk of PHB. These findings highlight the importance of CG preparedness as a target for caregiver intervention research.

publication date

  • January 1, 2022

Research

keywords

  • Caregivers
  • Emotions

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85142872826

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1177/15333175221141552

PubMed ID

  • 36427169

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 37