The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #59098

Zabedah Saad, MA, Research Associate, Center for Aging and Healthcare, in West Virginia, Inc., 517 Market Street, Dils Center, Parkersburg, WV 26101, 304-422-2853, zabedahsaad@hotmail.com, Brenda Wamsley, MSW, Executive Director, Center for Aging & Healthcare in West Virginia, 517 Market Street, Dils Building, Parkersburg, WV 26101, and Gerald M. Eggert, PhD, Executive Director, Monroe County Long Term Care Program, Inc./ACCESS, 349 West Commercial Street, Suite 2250, East Rochester, NY 14445.

This paper builds on results of the study, “Spousal caregiving in impaired elderly couples: The effect of family interaction on spousal caregiving”, which the more their sons visit, the more burden caregivers experience. Specifically, the results showed significantly more burden among caregivers whose sons visited everyday compared to the level of burden experienced by caregivers whose sons visited only once a month. This finding is counter-intuitive in that children’s visits are generally perceived as being welcomed and looked forward to by their parents. Indeed, several studies associate caregiving with feelings of loneliness and isolation due to lack of visits or contacts from family and friends. Therefore, this follow-up study examines more explicitly children’s behaviors during visits that might be related to greater caregiver burden. The purpose of this study is threefold: first, to determine behaviors or activities performed by children during visits to their parents; second, to examine whether these behaviors or activities meet the needs or desires of spousal caregivers; and, third, to identify behaviors that add more stress to spousal caregivers. Results from this study will help counselors, social workers and health care providers to take this issue into consideration when planning future programs or family education sessions.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, attendees will:
• Identify behaviors or activities performed by children during visits to their parents.
• Discuss gender differences on behaviors performed during visits.
• Examine whether these behaviors or activities help the parents in dealing with caregiving tasks.
• Determine behaviors that could lead to more burden for spousal caregivers.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.