Synonyms
Definitions
Family caregiving refers to the efforts of family members to assist an individual with physical health and/or mental health problems and with difficulties in performing everyday activities.
Outcomes in the context of family caregiving have two meanings: (1) outcomes of engagement in the caregiving role and (2) the primary dependent variables in an intervention study, i.e., the major changes that are hypothesized to result from the intervention.
Overview
Extensive research over the past 40 years has explored the stress experienced by family caregivers (See “Caregivers’ Stress”). Caregiver outcomes have been characterized in two ways, as the end point of the effects of engagement in the caregiving role and as hypothesized changes expected to result from exposure to a treatment or intervention (See “Interventions for Caregivers of Older Adults”). Whatever the goal of the research, a particular challenge...
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Acknowledgments
Courtney A. Polenick was supported by grant K01AG059829 from the National Institute on Aging.
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Zarit, S.H., Polenick, C.A. (2019). Caregivers’ Outcomes. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_8-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_8-1
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