%0 Journal Article
%T Clinically significant changes in burden and depression among dementia caregivers following nursing home admission
%A Joseph E Gaugler
%A Mary S Mittelman
%A Kenneth Hepburn
%A Robert Newcomer
%J BMC Medicine
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1741-7015-8-85
%X Secondary longitudinal analysis of dementia caregivers were recruited from eight catchment areas in the United States with 6- and 12-month post-placement follow-up data. The sample included data on 1,610 dementia caregivers with pre- and six-month post-placement data and 1,116 with pre-placement, six-month, and 12-month post-placement data. Burden was measured with a modified version of the Zarit Burden Inventory. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale.Chi-square analyses found significant (P < .05) reductions in the number of caregivers who reported clinically significant burden and depressive symptoms after NHA compared to pre-placement. Logistic regression models revealed that wives and daughters were most likely to experience clinically persistent burden and husbands were most likely to experience clinically significant depression after NHA.In addition to suggesting that clinically significant decreases in caregiver burden and depression are likely to occur following institutionalization, the results reveal particular subsets of caregivers who are at continued risk of distress. Such findings can facilitate development of screening processes to identify families at-risk following institutionalization.Over 50 million individuals provide unpaid care to adults who are disabled or ill http://www.caregiver.org webcite. The prominence of informal care in the U.S. has led to a large number of studies describing family caregivers [1], examining stress in family caregiving [2,3], and evaluating the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions and respite services for caregiving families [4-6]. As chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease or other dementias progress, critical health transitions (diagnosis, institutionalization, bereavement) may exacerbate negative health outcomes for persons with dementia or their family caregivers. Nursing home admission (NHA) in particular is a transition that is considered a key clinical marker of demen
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/8/85