Centre for Policy on Ageing
 

 

Weight change: an indicator of caregiver stress
Author(s)Lisa Fredman, Mel P Daly
Journal titleJournal of Aging and Health, vol 9, no 1,, February 1997
Pagespp 43-69
KeywordsFamily care ; Stress ; Weight ; United States of America.
AnnotationThis study evaluated weight change and caregiver stress in 200 informal caregivers to older patients discharged from a rehabilitation hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Previous laboratory and epidemiological studies have shown that stress predisposes to weight change. Nineteen percent of the caregivers had gained or lost at least 10 pounds since becoming caregivers. Weight change was significantly associated with higher scores on standardised measures of burden and stress (e.g., Burden Interview, Perceived Stress Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale) and with lower education, poorer self-rated health, more psychotropic medication use, and caring for patients with more activities of daily living (ADL) limitations who had been hospitalised for stroke or a frail elderly condition. Caregivers to patients with a stroke or frail elderly condition reported 2.8 times more weight change than caregivers to patients with a rehabilitation problem. These results suggest that weight change is a valid indicator of stress in caregivers, and they have public health, clinical, and research applications. (AKM).
Accession NumberCPA-980407209 A
ClassmarkP6:SJ: QNH: 4X6: 7T

Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.
 

CPA home >> Ageinfo Database >> Queries to: webmaster@cpa.org.uk