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Caregiving Satisfaction, Psychological Distress and Caregiver Burden in Family Caregivers of Dependent Older People: A Longitudinal Study

López-Martínez, Catalina; Orgeta, Vasiliki; Gutiérrez-Sánchez, Belén; Del-Pino-Casado, Rafael; (2025) Caregiving Satisfaction, Psychological Distress and Caregiver Burden in Family Caregivers of Dependent Older People: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Clinical Nursing 10.1111/jocn.17626. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Background and Objectives: Although a substantial amount of research has focused on negative aspects of caregiving, less research has been conducted investigating positive aspects of providing informal care. The aim of this study was to investigate the longitudinal association between caregiving satisfaction and psychological distress in informal carers of dependent older people, and whether this relationship is mediated by caregiver burden. // Research Design and Methods: Prospective longitudinal study with a probabilistic sample of 332 caregivers of older relatives, with data collected at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. We measured caregiving satisfaction, psychological distress, subjective caregiver burden and several covariates (caregivers' sex, age and objective caregiver burden). Data were analysed using generalised estimation equations with multiple imputation. The STROBE checklist was used to support the writing of this document. // Results: After controlling for covariates, caregiving satisfaction was significantly negatively associated with lower levels of subjective caregiver burden (B = −0.17, 95% CI: −0.23, −0.11) and emotional distress (B = −0.23, 95% CI: −0.36, −0.11). When subjective burden was included in the model, the relationship between caregiving satisfaction and psychological distress was no longer significant (B = −0.11, 95% CI: −0.23, 0.02), whereas the association between subjective burden and psychological distress remained (B = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.92). The Sobel test confirmed these results (p < 0.001), indicating that subjective caregiver burden mediates the relationship between caregiving satisfaction and psychological distress (complete mediation) over time. // Discussion and Implications: Caregiving satisfaction exerts a longitudinal protective effect on carers' psychological distress via subjective burden. Our findings indicate that interventions aimed at strengthening caregiving satisfaction may play a significant role in maintaining positive mental health outcomes for informal caregivers.

Type: Article
Title: Caregiving Satisfaction, Psychological Distress and Caregiver Burden in Family Caregivers of Dependent Older People: A Longitudinal Study
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/jocn.17626
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.17626
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Clinical Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Keywords: Caregiving satisfaction; family caregivers; mediation effects; older people; psychological distress; subjective caregiver burden
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Mental Health of Older People
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10203148
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