TY - JOUR
T1 - Well-being, appraisal, and coping in African-American and Caucasian dementia caregivers
T2 - Findings from the REACH study
AU - Haley, Wiliam E.
AU - Gitlin, L. N.
AU - Wisniewski, S. R.
AU - Mahoney, D. Feeney
AU - Coon, D. W.
AU - Winter, L.
AU - Corcoran, M.
AU - Schinfeld, S.
AU - Ory, M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper reviews the current evidence related to race and dementia caregiving, proposes a set of hypotheses relating differences between African-American and Caucasian dementia caregivers to stress process variables, and then examines these variables using baseline data from a unique data set. The National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Nursing Research recently sponsored a multi-site research project, the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health (REACH) multi-site study. REACH is a multi-year intervention program investigating the effectiveness of innovative
Funding Information:
The Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health Project is supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Nursing Research (Grants: Burgio, NR13269; Burns, AG13313; Eisdorfer, AG13297; Gallagher-Thompson, AG13289; Gitlin, AG13265; Mahoney, AG13255; Schulz, AG13305).
PY - 2004/7
Y1 - 2004/7
N2 - Although there has been considerable interest in racial differences in family caregiving for persons with dementia, most research to date has either ignored racial diversity or based conclusions on small numbers of caregivers drawn primarily from single site studies. The current study utilized participants from four sites of the REACH (Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health) multi-site study to compare well-being, appraisal, and religious coping by race. African-American (n = 295) and Caucasian (n = 425) dementia caregivers from four cities (Birmingham, Memphis, Boston, and Philadelphia) were compared in their demographics, care recipient characteristics, mental and physical health, and psychosocial coping resources including appraisal and religious coping. African-American caregivers reported lower anxiety, better well-being, less use of psychotropic medications, more benign appraisals of stress and perceived benefits of caregiving, and greater religious coping and participation, than Caucasian caregivers. Self-rated health did not differ by race, but African-American caregivers reported more unhealthy behaviors than Caucasian caregivers. Some results were specific to site, possibly due to differences in recruitment strategies, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and regional differences. Adjustment for covariates, including caregiver relationship to the care recipient, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and care recipient behavioral problems, altered few of these differences. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to psychosocial intervention programs for ethnically diverse caregivers.
AB - Although there has been considerable interest in racial differences in family caregiving for persons with dementia, most research to date has either ignored racial diversity or based conclusions on small numbers of caregivers drawn primarily from single site studies. The current study utilized participants from four sites of the REACH (Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health) multi-site study to compare well-being, appraisal, and religious coping by race. African-American (n = 295) and Caucasian (n = 425) dementia caregivers from four cities (Birmingham, Memphis, Boston, and Philadelphia) were compared in their demographics, care recipient characteristics, mental and physical health, and psychosocial coping resources including appraisal and religious coping. African-American caregivers reported lower anxiety, better well-being, less use of psychotropic medications, more benign appraisals of stress and perceived benefits of caregiving, and greater religious coping and participation, than Caucasian caregivers. Self-rated health did not differ by race, but African-American caregivers reported more unhealthy behaviors than Caucasian caregivers. Some results were specific to site, possibly due to differences in recruitment strategies, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and regional differences. Adjustment for covariates, including caregiver relationship to the care recipient, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and care recipient behavioral problems, altered few of these differences. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to psychosocial intervention programs for ethnically diverse caregivers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=3242711616&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=3242711616&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13607860410001728998
DO - 10.1080/13607860410001728998
M3 - Article
C2 - 15370048
AN - SCOPUS:3242711616
SN - 1360-7863
VL - 8
SP - 316
EP - 329
JO - Aging and Mental Health
JF - Aging and Mental Health
IS - 4
ER -