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ERIC Number: EJ824319
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2003-Dec
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0016-9013
EISSN: N/A
Two Models of Caregiver Strain and Bereavement Adjustment: A Comparison of Husband and Daughter Caregivers of Breast Cancer Hospice Patients
Bernard, Lori L.; Guarnaccia, Charles A.
Gerontologist, v43 n6 p808-816 Dec 2003
Purpose: Caregiver bereavement adjustment literature suggests opposite models of impact of role strain on bereavement adjustment after care-recipient death--a Complicated Grief Model and a Relief Model. This study tests these competing models for husband and adult-daughter caregivers of breast cancer hospice patients. Design and Methods: This study used secondary data from the National Hospice Study (Greer & Mor, 1987). Stepwise multiple regression analyses, using caregiver's age and two formulations of prebereavement caregiver role strain as independent variables, predicted grief and despair bereavement adjustment as dependent variables. Results: Data from husbands supported a Complicated Grief Model, as greater empirically derived (anxiety and depression symptoms) and theoretically derived (psychological and health strain) caregiver role strain formulations both predicted more difficult bereavement adjustment for husbands. Neither model was supported for adult daughters, as neither formulation of caregiver role strain predicted daughters' bereavement adjustment. Older caregiver age predicted better bereavement adjustment for both husbands and daughters. Adult daughters experienced more caregiver role strain than husbands did. Implications: The family role relationship between caregiver and patient (husband-wife vs. daughter-mother relationship) affects how caregiving factors influence bereavement adjustment.
Gerontological Society of America. 1030 15th Street NW Suite 250, Washington, DC 20005. Tel: 202-842-1275; Fax: 202-842-1150; e-mail: geron@geron.org; Web site: http://www.geron.org/journals/gsapub.htm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A