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
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