Social Determinants of Caregiver Health

Monday, 17 September 2018

Dawn M. Turnage, DNP, ARNP, FNP-BC
College of Nursing, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Aim: To evaluate Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in caregivers to determine the impact

on caregiver health related quality of life, which may guide clinicians to recommend appropriate

resources to support improved quality of life and may also serve to influence policies supporting

caregivers

Background: Caregivers face increased levels of stress that can negatively affect health related

quality of life (HRQOL). Additionally, SDOH can contribute to these stressors and further

impact health.

Method: An electronic, systematic review of seven databases was used to retrieve 11 articles.

The total number of participants from all studies was 38,050 from ten countries. Existing data

from the National Alliance for Caregiving 2015 survey was used to compare results from the

studies to determine emergent significant findings.

Key Issues: Key findings included that all eleven studies found decreased HRQOL in either the

emotional or physical domains. Additionally, nine out of eleven studies found that low income

levels had a significant impact on HRQOL. Also, a majority of the studies found that gender

played a role in decreased HRQOL, where caregivers are usually female spouses or mothers.

Implications for Nursing and Research: Future studies are needed with higher levels of

evidence, such as randomized-controlled trials. Studies are also needed to determine validity and

reliability of instruments used to evaluate caregiver burden, as there are currently no tools specific to

caregiver burden. Tools are needed in the clinical

setting to aid clinicians in screening for caregiver burden, which could uncover potential predictors of

decreased quality of life and allow for clinicians' recommendations of appropriate resources to support

quality of life

Conclusions: A better understanding of social determinants of health (SDOH) may guide

clinicians to recommend necessary resources and may help to direct policy proposals for change

to improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for caregivers.

Keywords: Caregiver, caregiver burden, social determinants, SDOH