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American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias logoLink to American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
. 2005 May-Jun;20(3):181–190. doi: 10.1177/153331750502000308

Instrumental help and caregivers' distress: Effects of change in informal and formal help

Shannon E Jarrott 1, Steven H Zarit 2, Mary Ann Parris Stephens 3, Aloen Townsend 4, Rick Greene 5
PMCID: PMC10833266  PMID: 16003934

Abstract

Family caregivers of persons with dementia rely on a range of resources to provide care and cope with caregiving stressors. Informal (unpaid) and formal (paid) instrumental support contribute to diverse caregiver outcomes. Previous research of caregiver support has focused on subjective measures of help or has compared caregivers receiving formal services to those who do not. We focused instead on the effects of change in the amount of formal and informal instrumental assistance on caregivers' distress. We expected that greater gains in assistance would be associated with greater reduction of caregivers' distress. Increases in formal but not informal levels of assistance were associated with improvement in each measure of distress. Additional measures may be needed to fully understand the effects of informal and formal assistance.

Keywords: dementia, caregiving, informal help, formal help, caregiver distress

Full Text

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This paper was initially presented in 1998 at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Philadelphia, PA.

Contributor Information

Shannon E. Jarrott, Department of Human Development, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.

Steven H. Zarit, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.

Mary Ann Parris Stephens, Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.

Aloen Townsend, University Center on Aging and Health, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Rick Greene, Administration on Aging, Washington, DC.

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