Anxiety among informal hospice caregivers: an exploratory study

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of clinically significant anxiety among informal hospice caregivers and identified the characteristics of caregivers who experienced anxiety of this severity.

Method: An exploratory secondary data analysis pooled from three separate studies of informal hospice caregivers (N = 433) was conducted. Researchers employed descriptive statistics to calculate anxiety prevalence and utilized logistic regression to model the associations between the covariates (i.e., caregiver characteristics) and anxiety.

Results: Overall, 31% of informal hospice caregivers reported moderate or higher levels of anxiety. Caregivers associated with the research site in the Northwest were less likely to be anxious than those in the Southeast [χ2(3, N = 433) = 7.07, p = 0.029], and employed caregivers were less likely to be anxious than unemployed caregivers (OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.96). The likelihood of being anxious decreased with increasing physical quality of life (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.69, 0.85), and younger female caregivers were more likely to be anxious than male caregivers and older females (OR = 0.95, CI = 0.91, 0.99).

Significance of results: A noteworthy number of informal hospice caregivers experience clinically significant levels of anxiety. Increased efforts to screen and address anxiety in this population are recommended.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01211340 NCT01444027.

Keywords: Anxiety; Caregivers; Family; Hospice care.

Figures

Figure 1

Distribution of Informal Hospice Caregiver Anxiety and Severity

Figure 2

Association of Age with Experiencing Anxiety by Gender