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Anxiety among informal hospice caregivers: An exploratory study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

Karla T. Washington*
Affiliation:
Curtis W. & Ann H. Long Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
George Demiris
Affiliation:
Department of Biobehavioral Nursing & Health Services, School of Nursing and Department of Biomedical & Health Informatics, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Kenneth C. Pike
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosocial Nursing & Community Health, School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Robin L. Kruse
Affiliation:
Curtis W. & Ann H. Long Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Debra Parker Oliver
Affiliation:
Curtis W. & Ann H. Long Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Karla T. Washington, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Missouri, MA306 Medical Sciences Building, DC032.00, Columbia, Missouri 65212. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

Objective:

This study examined the prevalence of clinically significant anxiety among informal hospice caregivers and identified the characteristics of caregivers who experienced anxiety of this severity.

Method:

An exploratory secondary data analysis pooled from three separate studies of informal hospice caregivers (N = 433) was conducted. Researchers employed descriptive statistics to calculate anxiety prevalence and utilized logistic regression to model the associations between the covariates (i.e., caregiver characteristics) and anxiety.

Results:

Overall, 31% of informal hospice caregivers reported moderate or higher levels of anxiety. Caregivers associated with the research site in the Northwest were less likely to be anxious than those in the Southeast [χ2(3, N = 433) = 7.07, p = 0.029], and employed caregivers were less likely to be anxious than unemployed caregivers (OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.96). The likelihood of being anxious decreased with increasing physical quality of life (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.69, 0.85), and younger female caregivers were more likely to be anxious than male caregivers and older females (OR = 0.95, CI = 0.91, 0.99).

Significance of Results:

A noteworthy number of informal hospice caregivers experience clinically significant levels of anxiety. Increased efforts to screen and address anxiety in this population are recommended.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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