Black female caregivers feel less depressed when they receive family nurturing, a new study shows.
Knowing how family interactions influence these caregivers’ mental health may help service providers create appropriate intervention programs if caregivers are feeling depressed, says Letha Chadiha, a researcher in the School of Social Work.
The Journal of Family Issues published the findings in its March issue. Chadiha, associate professor, collaborated on the article with lead author Philip Rozario of Adelphi University and Enola Proctor and Nancy Morrow-Howell, both of Washington University.
Chadiha, whose research expertise is black family relations, says African-American elders 65 years and older often receive personal and daily care from family members, usually daughters and wives.
“Providing care to an elderly family member can involve much energy and time that can tax the psychological health of these caregivers,” she says. “Social resources — such as receiving help from family members (shopping, running errands or helping financially) and obtaining secondary informal help — allow caregivers to deal with challenges that may influence their psychological health in both positive and negative ways.”
As caregivers of older African Americans, wives are more likely than daughters to share similar age, education and health status with the persons receiving care, the study found. Wives may feel alone or obligated in providing care to husbands. This predisposes wives to poor psychological health due to little or no resources from others in caregiving, Chadiha says.
In contrast, daughters may be more predisposed to poor psychological health resulting from multiple caregiving roles, such as providing care to a minor child and also to an elderly parent.
Wife caregivers’ satisfaction with family functioning emerged as the only social resource variable that was significantly predictive of depressive symptoms. In this case, the relationship was negative, suggesting that wives feeling less satisfied with family functioning may be at risk for poor psychological health, the researchers say.
“Similarly, wife caregivers’ self-reported health as a control measure was negatively predictive of their depressive symptoms, which may mean that wives’ low rating of their overall health may also imply a risk factor for poor psychological health,” Chadiha says.
The study also indicates a positive association between family support and depressive symptoms for daughters, not for wives. This support might increase the potential for disagreements over how and when care should be given to the older person, the researchers say.
