Why do spouses provide personal care? A study among care-receiving Dutch community-dwelling older adults.

This study investigates under what conditions older spouses receive personal care from their spouse. Whether spousal care is provided is determined by individual and societal factors related to informal and formal care provision. Individual factors concern the need for care (the care recipient's health status), the spouse's ability to provide care (the spouse's health status) and the quality of the marital bond.

Male and Female Partner-Caregivers' Burden: Does It Get Worse Over Time?

Background And Objectives: The general view is that partner-caregiver burden increases over time but findings are inconsistent. Moreover, the pathways underlying caregiver burden may differ between men and women. This study examines to what degree and why partner-caregiver burden changes over time.

Explaining the Gender Gap in the Caregiving Burden of Partner Caregivers.

Objectives: We examine gender differences in the experienced burden of partner caregivers using the stress-appraisal model. Gender differences can be explained by differences in conditions of burden (primary stressors, help from others, hours of caregiving, and secondary stressors) and how strong their effects are.

Method: The data are from the Netherlands' Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey-Minimum Data Set (N = 1,611 caregivers).