This study compared the correlates of burden for spouse and adult child caregivers at two points in time and assessed whether correlates at T1 predicted burden at T2. The sample consisted of 878 caregivers to older adults throughout British Columbia who were prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors. Burden was measured six months after the older adult was prescribed the medication and one year later (n = 759). Findings suggest that adult children experience more burden than spouses at both T1 and T2 with adult children but not spouses decreasing their burden over time. Correlates of T1 burden explained significant amounts of variance, revealing differential correlates for the two groups and the importance of caregiver characteristics over patient characteristics. Burden at T2 is explained mostly by T2 factors, plus T1 burden, suggesting the importance of relatively immediate factors for direct effects on caregiver burden. Indirect effects operated through T1 burden.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of spousal caregiving following the institutionalization of elderly husbands. Theoretically, the study was informed by the interpretive perspective in sociology and the concept of career. Methodologically, the study employed a longitudinal and prospective design and combined quantitative and qualitative approaches. The data were drawn from a larger study designed to explore the transition to quasi-widowhood. This article reports on one aspect of spousal caregiving following the admission of husbands to a long term care setting, i.e. the performance of tasks. In this study, wives carried out a substantial number and wide variety of tasks related to personal, instrumental, relational and recreational care. They viewed visiting as their most important task but also highly valued providing companionship, love and support, doing little things for their husbands and monitoring their health and well-being. Typically, wives carried out tasks they viewed as falling within their domain of responsibility. Task performance occurred within a context of meaning that served to explain, in part, their continued involvement in caregiving following the admission of husbands to a long term care setting. Implications of this study point to the need for collaboration in caregiving between wives and staff, to support and enhance the quality of care provided by elderly wives who are coping with the institutionalization of their husbands.