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| The effect of spousal caregiving and bereavement on depressive symptoms |
| Author(s) | D H Taylor, M Kuchibhatla, T Ostbye |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 12, no 1, January 2008 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis, January 2008 |
| Pages | pp 100-107 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Spouses as carers ; Bereavement ; Depression ; Symptoms ; Correlation ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | 1967 community-dwelling older couples from the 1993 US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were followed until 2002 (six bi-annual surveys) or death. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression (CES-D) scale. Adjusted depressive symptoms were higher for females for three of the four caregiving arrangements tested (as were unadjusted baseline levels). Depressive symptoms were lowest when neither spouse received caregiving. They were highest when females provided care to their husband with assistance from another caregiver. A gender by caregiving arrangements interaction was not significant, showing no differential effect of caregiving on CESD by gender. Depressive symptoms peaked for bereaved spouses within three months of spousal death, but declined steadily more than 15 months after death. Depressive symptoms initially increased for the community spouse after institutionalisation of the care recipient, but later declined. The authors conclude that caregiving increases depressive symptoms in the caregiver, but does not have a differential effect by gender. Increases in depressive symptoms following bereavement are short-term. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080409213 A |
| Classmark | P6:SN: DW: ENR: CT: 49: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |