![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
This study aimed to identify subgroups of Mexican American (MA) caregivers who experienced different trajectories of burden and the psychological and demographic factors associated with them. A cohort of caregivers and care recipients were followed for up to 15 weeks. Growth mixture models were fitted to identify trajectories of caregiver burden measured by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI).
Methods:
Participants included 116 caregivers from an NINR funded multi-site study. Caregivers ranged in age from 19 - 81 years, were 86.2% female, 58.6% were married, 62% had 12 years of education or less; and 84.5% were siblings, daughters/sons, or nieces/nephews, while 15.5% were spouses. Growth mixture models were fitted to identify trajectories of caregiver burden measured by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). One way ANOVAs were conducted to look at the association between caregiver and care recipient’s psychological and demographic factors and the resulting subgroups.
Results:
For the sample as a whole, burden followed a curvilinear pattern with increasing burden in the beginning of the study and then decreasing back toward the starting values at the end. Within this overall pattern there were four subgroups with different trajectories: (1) an Escalating” group that had the highest caregiver IADLs and highest vigilance, (2) a “Robust” group that had the lowest means on caregiver depression, vigilance, worry, and ADLs, (3) a “Fragile” group that had the highest caregiver ADLs, but also the highest positive aspects of caregiving and second highest well-being, and (4) an “Overwhelmed” group which had the highest means on burden, depression and worry, and the lowest means on well-being. There were no significant differences among the subgroups in terms of caregiver demographics. However, there were significant differences on the psychological measures of depression, well- being, vigilance, and worry. There were also significant differences among the subgroups based on care recipient demographics of age, income, CLOX score, IADLs and ADLs.
Conclusions:
The findings highlight the substantial heterogeneity in burden trajectories of MA caregivers. Rather than treating caregivers as a homogenous group providers need to be cognizant of the caregiver’s attributes and personal resources and their impact on burden. These findings have important implications for ways to enhance existing or develop new interventions designed to reduce MA caregiver burden.