The Impact of Caregiving on Caregivers' Medication Adherence and Appointment Keeping.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between care demands and caregivers' medication adherence and health appointment keeping. A cross-sectional correlational design was used to survey a convenience sample of 45 informal caregivers of persons with dementia. Pearson product-moment correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine the relationships among study variables. Nearly one third of caregivers reported frequently or occasionally missing medication doses and nearly a half reported not being able to fully keep appointments with health care providers. Female gender, care duration, and care-recipient activities of daily living were significant predictors for medication adherence and appointment keeping. Caregivers' education and weekly caregiving hours contributed significantly to their medication adherence. Interventions are needed to help caregivers keep health appointments and adhere to their medications.