Background
Methods
Sampling
Measurement Instruments
Quality of life
Demographic and health characteristics of caregivers and care recipients
Caregiving factors
Procedure
Statistical analysis
Results
Participant characteristics
Characteristic | Caregiver | Elderly |
---|---|---|
n (%) |
n (%) | |
Gender | ||
male | 175 (43.0) | 168 (41.3) |
female | 232 (57.0) | 239 (58.7) |
Age | ||
20–39 | 65 (16.0) | |
40–59 | 229 (56.2) | |
60–69 | 113 (27.8) | 153 (37.6) |
70–79 | 192 (47.2) | |
80+ | 62 (15.2) | |
Marital status | ||
married | 381 (93.6) | 284 (69.8) |
unmarried/widowed/separation | 26 (6.4) | 123 (30.2) |
Education level | ||
illiterate | 45 (11.0) | 160 (39.3) |
elementary school | 67 (16.5) | 125 (30.7) |
secondary school | 146 (35.9) | 82 (20.2) |
high school or professional training | 98 (24.1) | 31 (7.6) |
college and above | 51 (12.5) | 9 (2.2) |
Occupation | ||
employed | 207 (50.8) | |
retired | 89 (21.9) | 205 (50.4) |
never been employed or others | 111 (27.3) | 202 (49.6) |
Average monthly revenue (RMB) | ||
≤500 | 26 (6.4) | |
501–1000 | 78 (19.2) | |
1001–2000 | 114 (28.0) | |
2001–3000 | 104 (25.5) | |
>3000 | 85 (20.9) | |
Comorbidity (hypertension, coronary disease, diabetes mellitus, etc.) | ||
none | 265 (65.1) | |
one | 103 (25.3) | 107 (26.3) |
two | 23 (5.7) | 103 (25.3) |
three and more | 16 (3.9) | 197 (48.4) |
Activities of Daily Living | ||
independent | 0 (0.0) | |
partially dependent | 294 (72.2) | |
severely dependent | 113 (27.8) | |
Relationship to the elderly person | ||
spouse | 109 (26.8) | |
children | 201 (49.4) | |
children in-law | 80 (19.7) | |
other relatives | 17 (4.1) | |
Overall caregiving duration (year) | ||
<1 | 112 (27.5) | |
1–2 | 88 (21.6) | |
3–5 | 87 (21.4) | |
6–9 | 48 (11.8) | |
10+ | 72 (17.7) | |
Average daily caregiving duration (hours) | ||
<2 | 178 (43.8) | |
2–3 | 127 (31.2) | |
4–5 | 71 (17.4) | |
6+ | 31 (7.6) | |
Affordability of the elderly person’s healthcare expenses | ||
≥90 % | 43 (10.5) | |
89 %–50 % | 183 (45.0) | |
49 %–11 % | 151 (37.1) | |
≤10 % | 30 (7.4) | |
Importance of the perceived effects of caregiving on the caregiver’s social life | ||
important | 55 (13.5) | |
relatively important | 186 (45.7) | |
slightly important | 147 (36.1) | |
not important at all | 19 (4.7) |
QoL in Participants and the General Population
Caregiver | General population |
t
|
P
| |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | |||
Physical Function (PF) | 90.65 ± 8.53 | 87.92 ± 16.98 | 4.397 | <0.001 |
Role Physical (RP) | 52.64 ± 34.39 | 77.50 ± 34.86 | −14.581 | <0.001 |
Bodily Pain (BP) | 84.60 ± 9.91 | 82.22 ± 16.98 | 2.408 | 0.016 |
General Health (GH) | 52.36 ± 13.15 | 62.51 ± 17.88 | −15.570 | <0.001 |
Vitality (VT) | 66.52 ± 10.39 | 68.17 ± 17.63 | −3.196 | 0.002 |
Social Function (SF) | 75.71 ± 16.71 | 80.67 ± 19.98 | −5.935 | <0.001 |
Role Emotional (RE) | 40.96 ± 35.09 | 67.86 ± 39.44 | −15.220 | <0.001 |
Mental Health (MH) | 65.67 ± 11.86 | 68.47 ± 16.90 | −4.762 | <0.001 |
Factors Significantly Associated with Family Caregivers’ QoL
variables | PCS MCS | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
β (SE) | βa
| β (SE) | βa
| |
Caregivers’ demographic factors | ||||
age | −0.389 (0.073) | −0.337*
| −0.201 (0.069) | −0.198*
|
gender | −0.308 (1.243) | −0.011 | −1.099 (1.175) | −0.043 |
marital status | 2.766 (2.091) | 0.056 | 2.328 (1.976) | 0.053 |
education level | −0.493 (0.618) | −0.042 | −0.392 (0.584) | −0.038 |
occupation | −0.030 (0.417) | −0.003 | 0.067 (0.394) | 0.008 |
average monthly revenue | 0.746 (0.569) | 0.061 | 0.220 (0.538) | 0.020 |
comorbidity | −5.630 (0.874) | −0.301*
| −2.833 (0.826) | −0.172*
|
Elderly’ demographic factors | ||||
age | −0.217 (0.108) | −0.102*
| −0.083 (0.102) | −0.044 |
gender | 1.538 (1.321) | 0.053 | 0.654 (1.248) | 0.025 |
marital status | −1.639 (0.725) | −0.103*
| −1.774 (0.685) | −0.126*
|
education level | −0.291 (0.624) | −0.022 | −0.575 (0.589) | −0.049 |
ADL | −0.203 (0.096) | −0.107*
| −0.327 (0.091) | −0.195*
|
Caregiving factors | ||||
relationship to the elderly person | −0.173 (0.706) | −0.015 | −0.930 (0.667) | −0.091 |
overall caregiving duration | 0.391 (0.454) | 0.038 | 0.027 (0.429) | 0.003 |
average daily caregiving duration | 1.049 (0.772) | 0.068 | 0.958 (0.729) | 0.071 |
affordability of the elderly person’s healthcare expenses | 1.567 (0.861) | 0.083 | 2.490 (0.813) | 0.150*
|
importance of the perceived effects of caregiving on the caregiver’s social life | 5.185 (0.915) | 0.274*
| 4.681 (0.865) | 0.282*
|