The mission of the NINDS is to """"""""reduce the burden of neurological diseases,"""""""" including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. The emphasis on reducing burden must not only be considered in the context of the patient but also for the primary caregiver. The patient and caregiver form a dyad where often times the majority of daily functioning activities, financial responsibilities, and required decision making of the patient now fall in the care of the family member.
The specific aims for this application are: (1) To provide high quality research training and mentorship to Ms. Perkins that will enhance her potential to become a productive independent minority researcher specializing in neurological disorders and ethnic differences in aging; (2) To develop a focus to Ms. Perkins' research activities in the areas of family caregiving and stroke that includes experiences observing and measuring the neurological effects of stroke and the impact that stroke has on the quality of life of the patient and their primary family caregivers; (3) To lead an investigation as part of her doctoral dissertation research that uses data from the national REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) project that will estimate the prevalence of caregiving responsibilities and caregiving strain; (4) To compare non-caregivers and caregivers reporting various levels of strain on psychosocial outcomes and to test whether social support moderates the associations between caregiving strain and these outcomes; (5) To examine if high caregiving strain is predictive of changes in self-rated health and is a significant risk factor for subsequent all-cause mortality over a 5-year period; and (6) To determine if racial differences in caregiving strain contribute to the understanding of racial differences in self-rated health and all-cause mortality. Through utilization of the REGARDS sample to identify non-caregivers and caregivers reporting various levels of caregiving strain, Ms. Perkins will be able to examine caregiving strain as a risk of mortality. With measures covering a broad spectrum of psychological, social, and physical factors, the analyses will be more thorough in identifying the factors that place caregivers at risk for mortality.
The prevalence of neurological diseases, the necessity for informal caregivers, and the implications on the health care system all indicate the importance of researching factors relating to health and mortality of older adult caregivers. The health care system saves a substantial amount of resources due to informal caregiving. However, the importance of savings will be minimal if the strain of providing care for a family member increases the caregiver's chance for illness and/or mortality. ? ? ?
| Perkins, Martinique; Howard, Virginia J; Wadley, Virginia G et al. (2013) Caregiving strain and all-cause mortality: evidence from the REGARDS study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 68:504-12 |
