Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-81).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1990. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [206]-218).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 1996. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MGeront) -- University of South Australia, 1994.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Michael Gamel-McCormick, Dept. of Individual & Family Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 1, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-119).

No description available.

A qualitative study was carried out to explore foster carers’ perceptions of respite care and their perceptions of the psychosocial effects of this service for the children in their care. In order to achieve this aim an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was utilised for data collection and analysis. This yielded six themes: carers’ perceptions being influenced by variants of the respite care environment, respite care being beneficial and necessary, concerns about agency provision of respite, factors carers attribute as contributing to its psychosocial effects on foster children, the observed psychosocial effects on foster children, and ways respite care could be improved. An additional finding was also reported, as foster carers’ views of fostering and their foster children appeared to be a modifying variable influencing carers’ perceptions of respite care. These findings illustrated that there are differential effects of respite for carers compared with foster children in some cases, resulting in a tension between meeting carers’ needs and the needs of the children in their care. Comparisons and corroboration of findings from existing literature is included in the discussion as well as the implications of these findings and future research directions.

Background. While the provision of respite care is a well-known strategy for supporting caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD), it is still unclear what influences its use by caregivers. Objective. To explore respite care use through the lens of a hopes and expectations framework. Methods. Six caregivers of PWD took part in one semi-structured interview. A phenomenological approach to data collection and analysis was employed. Results. The data showed that caregivers still felt burdened despite utilizing respite care. Hopes and expectations for the PWD tended to converge for all caregivers, yet diverged depending whether they were considering impact on themselves or the PWD, and whether they had used respite care or not. Conclusion. Preliminary data suggests that respite care services may need to focus more on helping caregivers. The framework of hopes and expectations is useful for exploring the use or non-use of respite.

This study addressed gaps in the literature on caregiver burden involving lack of information about the multiple strains of caregiving families, their coping patterns, and positive as well as negative aspects of caregiving. The primary objective was to examine the relationship among caregiving strains, patterns of coping responses employed, and the resulting objective and subjective burden. A model describing the relationship of these variables guided the study. The design was a mail survey of 97 caregivers living in Southwestern Virginia who were caring for a sick or disabled family member, age 60 or older (response rate=81%). Family strain was correlated with both subjective and objective burden. Only one coping pattern that dealt with understanding the medical situation was marginally correlated with objective burden at p < .10. No coping patterns were correlated with subjective burden. Based on stepwise multiple regression analysis, the variables that were significant in explaining the variance in objective burden were health of the caregiver and family strain. The presence of home health services and family strain were significant in explaining the variance in subjective burden. Qualitative analysis identified major themes of positive and negative aspects of caregiving, with the majority of caregivers reporting both. Implications of these findings for future research include the importance of examining family strain when studying caregiver burden, assessing problems with the conceptualization of coping, evaluating the effectiveness of different measures of coping patterns, and investigating the balance of costs and rewards related to caregiving. Implications for practice include the importance of health workers considering multiple sources of strain in the family. Caregivers need optimistic but realistic information about the situation. Staff members should promote the caregiver's confidence in the management of the medical situation. Governmental and service agencies need to assist caregivers in relieving problems with restrictions on time and activities, and provide an opportunity for the exchange of information about managing home care. Future researchers need to study the influence of home health services on caregiving by comparing the coping patterns and subjective and objective burden of caregivers who receive this service and those who do not. / Ph. D.