The study focused on the attitudes and beliefs regarding perceived and actual burden experienced by Latino caregivers and their use of formal support services. It also looked at the needs of Latino caregivers and explored their beliefs about why they had taken on the caregiver role, the responsibilities the role entailed, and coping skills used by these caregivers. Participants were obtained from two Alzheimer's caregiver support groups in the East Los Angeles area, and an adult day health care center in the high desert area of San Bernardino county. The author used both qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires. The findings suggest that high beliefs about responsibility to the family and low levels of service use may contribute to the stress and strain that these caregivers feel. Latino caregivers have been providing a significant amount of care without the help of sufficient formal services. Recommendations for social work practice, policy and further research are provided. Statistics for the study were generated by using SPSS Graduate Pack 13 for Windows.

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