# CAREGIVER BURDEN OVER TIME--STRESS AND COPING APPROACH

> **NIH NIH R01** · BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY · 1992 · $108,544

## Abstract

Considerable research has documented that caring for a person with dementia
is highly stressful.  Much of this research has been conducted within a
transactional model of stress, which emphasizes the importance of people's
interpretations or appraisals of events as the source of stress.  Two
frameworks grounded in the transactional model form the basis of the
proposed investigation:  Pearlin's (1980, 1983) and Lazarus and Folkman's
(1984).  Both frameworks view stress as situationally determined by the
individual.  These approaches provide a useful theoretical guide for the
study of perceived stress in caring for a person affected by Alzheimer's
disease.  Although we know that such caregiving is very stressful at times,
we do not yet understand either how this perceived stress varies across
problem domains, nor how it evolves over time.  The proposed study
incorporates key aspects of both frameworks (role, mastery, appraisal,
coping and adjustment) in an attempt to address several aspects of the
stress associated with caregiving over time.  Specifically, the focus of
the proposed investigation is on the longitudinal course of the appraisal-
coping-adjustment process, especially regarding the extent of intra- and
interindividual differences in this process.  Participants will be 200
spouse caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease or a related
dementia.  Caregivers will be assessed monthly for six consecutive months
to determine the stability of stressors in their situations.  Aspects to be
assessed include: mastery (the degree to which people fell in control of
situations), daily hassles associated with caregiving, appraisals of the
most significant stressors in each of five areas of caregiving, coping
attempts, perceptions of change in the caregiving situation over time, and
physical and mental health adjustment.  This design will permit examination
of the degree of stability or change in different aspects of caregiving and
their relationship to changes in perceived stress, topic that has not been
adequately researched to date.  Periodically, care-recipients will be re-
evaluated to ascertain their current cognitive and functional status.
These assessment permit examination of possible relationships (and changes
therein) between care-recipient status and caregivers' perceived stress.
Data analyses will examine the replicability and generalizability of
previous findings concerning stress, the extent of inter- and
intraindividual differences in the appraisal-coping-adjustment process over
time, and longitudinal relationships among the variables.  A combination of
complex, multivariate techniques will be used to analyze these data.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121083
- **Project number:** 5R01AG009265-03
- **Recipient organization:** BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** SLT3EB6G3FA9
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer M. Kinney
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1992
- **Award amount:** $108,544
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1990-09-30 → 1994-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121083

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121083, CAREGIVER BURDEN OVER TIME--STRESS AND COPING APPROACH (5R01AG009265-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121083. Licensed CC0.

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