Family, religion, and depressive symptoms in caregivers of disabled elderly

Study objective-To explain the variations in depressive symptomatology amon g primary caregivers of community dwelling activities of daily living disab led elderly and to evaluate the role of family and religiosity on the menta l health consequences of caregiving in Spain. Design-Cross sectional study Setting-City of Leganes in the metropolitan area of Madrid, Spain. Participants-All caregivers of a representative sample of community dwellin g activities of daily living disabled persons, aged 65 and over were approa ched. The response rate was 85% (n=193). Depression was assessed by the Cen ter for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale. Main results-Controlling for caregivers' income, education, health status, and caregiving stress, religiosity was associated with more depressive symp toms among children caregivers while for spouses the association was negati ve. Emotional support was negatively associated with depression, but instru mental support was not significant. Conclusions-Depressive symptomatology is frequent among Spanish caregivers of disabled elderly. This study concludes that religiosity and family emoti onal support play an important part in the mental health of Spanish caregiv ers. The role of religiosity may be different according to kinship tie and needs further investigation.