Caregiving stressors and psychological distress among veteran resident and immigrant family caregivers in Israel

The study compared caregiving stressors and psychological distress between Israeli veteran resident and immigrant family caregivers. It examined whether psychosocial variables (appraisal of caregiving, mastery, social support and coping) mediate the differences in psychological distress between these two groups. A total of 213 veteran resident and 206 immigrant (from the former Soviet Union) caregivers of chronically ill elderly were recruited from health services. The comparisons between the two groups were examined separately for spouse and adult child caregivers. The immigrant spouse and adult child caregivers reported significantly higher levels of caregiving stressors than veteran resident caregivers, but psychological distress was significantly higher only among the immigrant adult child caregivers. In multivariate analyses, the difference in psychological distress disappeared when caregiving stressors and mediating psychosocial variables were included in the regression models. Different caregiving stressors and psychosocial variables were associated with psychological distress among the spouses and among the adult child caregivers. The findings suggest that the caregiving stressors and psychosocial variables explain differences in psychological health outcomes between veteran resident and immigrant caregivers. Social work interventions should address these factors among caregivers, take into account the relationship to the care recipient, be culturally adapted to the immigrant caregivers, and target immigrant adult child caregivers in particular.