Male caregivers of spouses with Alzheimer's disease: Risk factors and health status

Abstract

Caregiving for persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been shown to pose a challenge to the health of the spousal caregiver. Because most of the caregiving literature focuses on the female caregiver, there is some question about the generalizability of such literature to the male caregiver. This report focuses on male caregivers of spouses with AD and represents a subsample from a larger descriptive study that examined the relationship between risk factors and the health status of spousal caregivers. Twenty-nine male caregivers affiliated with Alzheimer's organizations in Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada, returned mail surveys. On average, physical health symptoms increased by one-third when comparing pre- and post-caregiving data. Caregivers also were experiencing moderate to severe depression and burden. Male caregivers generally rated their physical health as fair to excellent and exhibited fewer than expected physical health symptoms. Caregiver health was related to perceptions of stress surrounding the provision of activities of daily living (ADL) assistance, the frequency of behavioral problems, perceptions of stress associated with the AD spouse's dysfunctional behaviors, and satisfaction with leisure opportunities.

The identification of the role that caregiver perceptions of stressfulness associated with caregiving and the need for leisure satisfaction offer important implications for community-based education and respite services to maintain health status for spousal caregivers.