Anxiety among informal hospice caregivers: An exploratory study. Issue 3 (13th February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Washington, Karla T.; Demiris, George; Pike, Kenneth C.; Kruse, Robin L.; Oliver, Debra Parker
• Is Part Of: Palliative & supportive care. Volume 13:Issue 3(2015)
• Page Start: 567
• Page End: 573
• Publication Date: 2014-02-13
• Subjects: Anxiety, -- Hospice care, -- Caregivers, -- Family; Palliative treatment -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 616.029
• DOI: 10.1017/S1478951513001193
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-9515

Abstract

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 [χ 2 (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.