Predictors of institutionalization of cognitively impaired elders: Family help and the timing of placement

Although predictors of nursing home placement have attracted a good deal of attention in gerontological research, the type and amount of family assist ance offered to caregivers prior to institutionalization has not been exten sively examined, This study analyzed the impact of family help on the timin g of placement among cognitively impaired rare recipients. Using longitudin al data from the Adult Day Care Collaborative Study, an event-history analy sis was pel formed to determine the effects of family help after sociodemog raphic characteristics, caregiving stressors, and indicators of caregiver w ell-being were taken into account. Results showed that caregivers were far less likely to institutionalize their relatives when family members provide d overnight help and assisted with activities of daily living care. These f indings suggest that specific types of family help play an important role i n delaying nursing home placement among older adults suffering from dementi a.