Love , Anthony, Street, Annette, Ray, Robin, Harris, Rod, and Lowe, Roger (2005) Social aspects of caregiving for people living with motor neurone disease: their relationships to carer wellbeing. Palliative and Supportive Care, 3 (1). pp. 33-38.

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Abstract

Objective: To investigate social aspects of caregiving for people living with motor neurone disease (MND) and examine their relationships to carers' well-being.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed to assess carers' perceptions of their social support network (the Caregiver Network Scale, CNS), including measures of sociodemographic status and general well-being (GHQ-12), and mailed to carers of people living with MND.

Results: Seventy-five surveys were returned (response rate: 33%). In univariate analyses, relationships between well-being and carer age, time as caregiver, and four subscales of the CNS were found to be significant. However, multivariate analyses combining their effects revealed that stress on carer social networks was the best single contributor to predictions of carer well-being.

Significance of results: Results indicate that prolonged caring for others living with MND has substantial costs for the carer in terms of loss of social support, which affects carer well-being and impacts ultimately on those living with MND. The CNS offers promise as a measure for screening at-risk carers; those who are distressed become candidates for professional intervention to help them cope better. Further research, providing validation of the scale for this task, is recommended.

Item ID:	9108
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1478-9523
Keywords:	social support, caregiver well-being, long-term caregiving, motor neurone disease
Date Deposited:	15 Mar 2010 05:49
FoR Codes:	11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	92 HEALTH > 9202 Health and Support Services > 920211 Palliative Care @ 100%
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