Involvement in Caregiving and Adjustment to Death of a Spouse

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
More than 2 million persons die in the United States each year. The large majority of these deaths occur among older persons with 1 or more disabling conditions that compromise their ability to function independently prior to death. As a result, a typical death is preceded by an extended period of time during which 1 or more family members provide health and support services to their disabled relative.1,2 Although researchers have repeatedly documented the psychiatric and physical health effects of family caregiving,3,4 caregivers are rarely followed up long enough to assess the effect of the death of the disabled relative on the caregiver.5 Similarly, bereavement researchers rarely explore the extent to which family members were involved in care prior to the death of their relative as a factor affecting bereavement outcomes. To better understand the role of caregiving in adjustment to bereavement, we examine predeath to postdeath changes in both self-report and objective health outcomes including depression symptoms, antidepressant medication use, health risk behaviors, and weight among husbands and wives providing varying levels of care to their spouse prior to death. These outcomes were selected because of their known association with caregiving and/or bereavement.