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What predicts whether caregivers of people with dementia find meaning in their role?
Author(s) -
Quinn Catherine,
Clare Linda,
Woods Robert T.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.3773
Subject(s) - competence (human resources) , psychology , dementia , religiosity , feeling , meaning (existential) , psychological intervention , clinical psychology , gerontology , developmental psychology , social psychology , medicine , psychiatry , psychotherapist , disease , pathology
Background Informal dementia caregiving has traditionally been perceived as an extremely stressful process; however, more recent research has started to focus on the positive aspects of providing care. Studies indicate that caregivers who derive something positive out of caregiving have better well‐being. However, there has been little exploration of the factors linked to caregivers identifying positive aspects of providing care. The aim of the current study was to explore the predictors of finding meaning in caregiving. Methods This was a cross‐sectional questionnaire study in which the respondents were 447 caregivers of people with dementia who were in receipt of a specialist nursing service. The questionnaire contained measures of meaning, relationship quality, caregivers' motivations to provide care, role captivity and caregiving competence. Results Correlational analyses showed that higher meaning was associated with being a spousal caregiver, providing greater hours of care, higher religiosity, a better pre‐caregiving and current relationship quality, higher competence, lower role captivity, higher intrinsic motivations and higher extrinsic motivations. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that variance in finding meaning was significantly predicted by high religiosity, high competence, high intrinsic motivations and low role captivity. Conclusion From these findings, it is recommended that interventions should help caregivers focus on positive aspects of providing care and enhance their feelings of competence. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.