Caregiving Stress Among American Indians With Type 2 Diabetes: The Importance of Awareness of Connectedness and Family Support.
Ashleigh Coser, Kelley J Sittner, Melissa L Walls and 1 others
PMID 30497320WHAT IT FOUND
For American Indian caregivers with type 2 diabetes, feeling connected to family and community partially buffered the link between caregiver stress and mental health.
This connection did not buffer physical health. Family support alone showed no mediating effect.
Key findings
01Awareness of connectedness to family and community partially mediated the relationship between caregiver stress and mental health.
02Caregiver stress had no indirect effects on self-rated physical health via awareness of connectedness or family support.
03Family support did not mediate associations between caregiver stress and health outcomes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design means we cannot say that stress causes poor health or that connectedness causes better health, only that they are linked. The sample size of 100 was too small to detect small effects reliably. All participants were already seeking treatment at reservation-based tribal health clinics, so findings may not apply to those who do not seek care or those treated elsewhere. The study focused on specific tribal communities, so results may not generalize to all American Indian populations.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that general family support protects against caregiver stress in this population. The study found that only awareness of connectedness to family and community partially buffered the impact of stress on mental health, and neither factor protected physical health.