Caregiving in Wisconsin: Impact on Health, Quality of Life, and Aging

描述（由申请人提供）：非正式护理人员（为生病或残疾的家庭成员或朋友提供无偿护理的人）在美国老年人和残疾人的护理中发挥着关键作用。随着需要非正式护理的人数增加，更多的护理人员将面临与分娩相关的健康状况不佳的风险。因此，至关重要的是，要了解哺乳可能对照料者健康产生不利影响的途径，以便为保护照料者及其家人的干预措施和政策提供信息。为了实现这一目标，本研究旨在确定是否以及在何种程度上的感知压力，由于browing解释之间的关联特性的browing经验和照顾者的健康在主观和生理水平。本研究以威斯康星州21 ~ 74岁的成年人为研究对象，主要目的是：1）比较照顾者和非照顾者的压力感知和身心健康相关的生活质量，并评估这些结果是否存在差异; 2、确定冲击特性（包括照顾的持续时间、每周提供照顾的时数、与照顾对象的关系、照顾对象的残疾或疾病，和与被照顾者共同居住）和照顾者对健康相关质量的压力 生命的;以及3）确定繁殖特征、照顾者应变和端粒长度（繁殖应激的生理影响的生物标志物）之间的关联。广义加性模型将用于解释本研究中的潜在非线性关系，并更准确地评价这些关系。 这项研究直接符合国家老龄问题研究所的使命，即支持对老龄问题性质的跨学科研究。 老化和老化过程。最终，这项研究将提供证据，说明如何最好地保护护理人员及其护理对象的健康和生活质量。从这项研究中获得的信息将导致更好地识别高风险的照顾者，并将证明是至关重要的有效和可持续的干预措施和政策，将防止或减少照顾者的压力和随后的不良健康结果的发展。这对于改善护理人员及其家人的健康和生活质量至关重要。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究将增加对衰老如何导致健康相关的生活质量差和加速细胞衰老的理解。这些信息对未来的研究很重要，并可能导致干预措施，改善健康结果，增加照顾者及其家人的健康活跃寿命。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Informal caregivers (those who provide unpaid care for an ill or disabled family member or friend) play a critical role in the care of aging and disabed individuals in the US. As the number of individuals requiring informal care increases, greater numbers of caregivers will be at risk of poor health outcomes associated with caregiving. It is therefore vital to understand the pathways by which caregiving may adversely impact caregiver health, so as to inform interventions and policies that will protect caregivers and their families. In order to achieve this goal, this study seeks to determine if and to what extent the perception of strain due to caregiving explains the association between characteristics of the caregiving experience and caregiver health on both the subjective and physiological level. Using a population-based sample of adults ages 21 to 74 from the state of Wisconsin, the specific aims of this study are to: 1) compare caregivers and non-caregivers on perceived stress and mental and physical health-related quality of life, and evaluate if disparities exist in these outcomes; 2 determine the impact of caregiving characteristics (including duration of caregiving, hours per week of care provided, relationship with the care recipient, disability or illness of the care recipient, and co-residence with the care recipient) and caregiver strain on health-related quality of life; and 3) determine the association between caregiving characteristics, caregiver strain, and telomere length, a biological marker of the physiological impact of caregiving stress. Generalized additive models will be used to account for potential non-linear relationships in this study, and more accurately evaluate these relationships. This study is directly in line with the mission of the National Institute on Aging to support interdisciplinary research into the nature of aging and the aging process. Ultimately this research will provide evidence of how best to protect the health and quality of life of caregivers and those for whom they care. The information gained from this study will lead to better identification of high-risk caregivers, and will prove critical to the development of effective and sustainable interventions and policies that will prevent or reduce caregiver strain and subsequent poor health outcomes. This will be essential in improving the health and quality of life caregivers and their families. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will add to the understanding of the how caregiving may lead to poor health-related quality of life and accelerated cellular aging. This information will be important for future research studies and may lead to interventions that will improve health outcomes and increase the healthy-active years of life for caregivers and their families.