Journal List > Korean J Health Promot > v.14(2) > 1089838

Nam and Hyun: Effects of Satisfaction with Social Support on Complicated Grief in Bereaved Dementia Caregivers

Abstract

Background

While complicated grief can lead to adverse health outcomes, social support has been shown to be an important protective factor of its negative effects. The present study investigated the relationship between social support including satisfaction with support, received support, and negative interactions and complicated grief in the transitional context from caregiving to bereavement.

Methods

Bereaved caregivers (n=221) who participated in a multi-site study of dementia caregiving were assessed for complicated grief. Social support measured before and after death were used to examine the longitudinal associations among social support and complicated grief.

Results

We found that caregivers reporting greater increase in satisfaction with social support were likely to experience lower levels of complicated grief, while the amount of received social support did not significantly impact complicated grief. Negative social interaction was significantly associated with the level of complicated grief after the death of the care recipient.

Conclusions

The relationship between social support and complicated grief suggests that satisfaction with social support may be associated with lower levels of complicated grief. Study findings point to the importance of the type of social support for reducing the level of complicated grief.

References

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Table 1.
Demographic characteristics, social support, and caregiving characteristics
  Mean SD
Outcome and main predictors    
Complicated grief 18.51 12.81
Satisfaction with social support    
 Before death 5.40 2.30
 After death 6.58 2.22
 Change 1.18 2.19
Received social support    
 Before death 13.00 6.55
 After death 9.95 8.04
 Change –3.05 8.29
Negative social interaction    
 Before death 2.69 2.64
 After death 2.27 2.15
 Change –0.42 2.17
Continuous covariates    
Care recipient age, y 80.91 7.64
Caregiver age, y 64.76 13.47
Time since loss, d 107.87 70.25
Years of caregiving for care recipient 4.38 4.43
Hours per day spent caregiving 13.12 6.69
  N %
Categorical covariates    
Caregiver gender    
 Female 186 84.16
 Male 35 15.84
Care-recipient gender    
Female 103 46.61
 Male 118 53.39
Caregiver race/ethnicity    
 Caucasian 146 66.06
 African American 45 20.36
 Hispanic/Latino 30 13.58
Caregiver education    
 Did not complete high school 52 23.53
 High school graduate 80 36.20
 College graduate 89 40.27
Relationship with care-recipient    
 Non spouse 112 50.68
 Spouse 109 49.32
Intervention assignment    
 Control group 80 36.20
 Intervention group 141 63.80
Antidepressant use    
 No 176 79.64
 Yes 45 20.36
Table 2.
Correlations for complicated grief and social support constructsa
  Correlation coefficient Pa
Satisfaction with social support
 Before death ‐0.10 0.071
 After death ‐0.26 <0.001
 Change ‐0.16 0.031
Received social support    
 Before death 0.02 0.142
 After death 0.12 0.065
 Change 0.10 0.072
Negative social interaction    
 Before death 0.12 0.065
 After death 0.21 0.003
 Change 0.06 0.105

a Assessed by zero-order correlation analysis.

Table 3.
Regression results on relationships between satisfaction with social support and complicated griefa
  B SE Pa
Change in satisfaction with social support –0.783 0.391 0.041
Caregiver's age –0.052 0.071 0.471
Care-recipient's age –0.264 0.112 0.033
Female –3.591 2.361 0.132
Race (ref group: White)
 Black 1.791 2.193 0.412
 Hispanic 0.262 2.794 0.934
Caregiver education (ref group: <high school)
 High school graduate –2.564 2.264 0.261
 College graduate –4.734 2.271 0.042
Time since loss 0.023 0.013 0.123
REACH intervention assignment –1.872 1.774 0.292
Antidepressant use 5.611 2.092 0.011
Years of caregiving for care-recipient –0.017 0.201 0.934
Hours per day spent caregiving –0.041 0.131 0.774

a Assessed by multiple regression analysis.

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