Caregiving, caring intensity, and allostatic load: A comparison of caring to others inside and outside the home

IF 3.5 2区医学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Psychosomatic Research Pub Date : 2024-10-22 DOI:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111966

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective

Caregiving to a sick or disabled relative is a key chronic stress model in health psychology. However, caregiving is not uniformly stressful, and this study tested whether caregiving effects on life satisfaction and allostatic load varies by caring intensity, i.e., caring within the home, outside the own home, or both (e.g. Dual caring).

Method

Using data from the UK Understanding Society Wave 2, a sample of non-caregivers (N = 3149) and caregivers (N = 562) met inclusion criteria and completed measures of life satisfaction and provided blood samples for capturing endocrine, cardiovascular and immune parameters for assessment of allostatic load.

Results

Dual caregivers had lower life satisfaction compared to non-carers, and other caregiver groups. Further, dual caregivers had higher levels of allostatic load compared to non-carers and those caring within the home and those caring outside the home. These group differences withstood adjustment for several co-variates including gender, education, income and lifestyle factors.

Conclusions

These results confirm that caregiving is not uniformly stressful with dual caring, an index of caring intensity being more damaging for health. The findings are also discussed in relation to the caregiver-control model of chronic stress.

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护理、护理强度和异质负荷：家庭内外对他人的关爱比较

目的护理生病或残疾的亲属是健康心理学中的一种重要的慢性压力模式。本研究测试了护理对生活满意度和异质负荷的影响是否会因护理强度（即在家中护理、在家中以外护理或两者兼有（如双重护理））而有所不同、方法利用英国 "了解社会 "调查第 2 波的数据，抽样调查了符合纳入标准的非照顾者（3149 人）和照顾者（562 人），他们填写了生活满意度调查表，并提供了血液样本，用于采集内分泌、心血管和免疫参数，以评估变态反应负荷。此外，与非照护者、在家照护者和外出照护者相比，双重照护者的异位负荷水平更高。这些群体差异经受住了包括性别、教育、收入和生活方式因素在内的若干共变因素的调整。研究结果还与慢性压力的照顾者-控制模型进行了讨论。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Psychosomatic Research 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

6.40%

发文量

314

审稿时长

6.2 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Psychosomatic Research is a multidisciplinary research journal covering all aspects of the relationships between psychology and medicine. The scope is broad and ranges from basic human biological and psychological research to evaluations of treatment and services. Papers will normally be concerned with illness or patients rather than studies of healthy populations. Studies concerning special populations, such as the elderly and children and adolescents, are welcome. In addition to peer-reviewed original papers, the journal publishes editorials, reviews, and other papers related to the journal''s aims.