http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7562-0923
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ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between the institutionalization of a dependent elderly relative and the family caregiver’s mental health, quality of life and caregiving satisfaction. We present data from 140 family caregivers caring for elderly family members, of whom 77 continued to live with family members and 63 had been institutionalized. We evaluated the factors influencing the decision to institutionalize the dependent relative, the effect of institutionalization on the caregiver’s psychological well-being and quality of life and the impact of strategies to find the meaning and cope with the relative’s placement on the caregiver’s emotional health and quality of life. Care does not end after institutionalization, but the stressors the caregiver faces change. Our results suggest that finding meaning increases satisfaction and reduces feelings of overload. They show that after institutionalization, stressors affecting caregivers are partly relieved, and that finding meaning increases the caregiver’s satisfaction, while decreasing the degree of overload. Our data, further, indicates that a good relationship and cooperation between the staff of the institution and the family are important to improve the caregivers’ emotional health and quality of life, and consequently, the quality of life of the dependent elderly relative.
Declaration of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This study was partially supported by a grant from the Institute of Bioethics of the Pontifical University of Comillas (Madrid, Spain).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Macarena Sánchez-Izquierdo Alonso
Macarena Sánchez-Izquierdo Alonso has been the person in charge of doing the field work, updating the references for the article and drafting the introduction and the conclusions.
María Prieto Ursúa
María Prieto-Ursúa has directed the study, reviewed the contents and drafted the methods and results sections.
José M Caperos
José M. Caperos has done the data analysis and he is the methodological assessor.