Institutional placement of a dementing spouse: The influence of appraisal,coping strategies, and social support

Men and women (N = 93, mean age 73 years) who were providing home-based car e for their dementing spouse in the family home were evaluated on recruitme nt to the study and 12 to 18 months later. The original caregiving arrangem ent was maintained in only 35% of cases. The level of burden that the careg iver experienced at the point of initial assessment, together with the copi ng strategies the caregiver was then employing, contributed to prediction o f continued caregiving versus institutional placement over and above inputs from demographic variables (such as period of prior caregiving) and care-r ecipient characteristics (such as functional status). Participants who cont inued to provide spousal care at follow-up demonstrated only limited change s on stress and coping measures in this period. The findings are discussed with reference to processes associated with providing care for a dementing spouse.