Examining the Impact of Social Support, Attachment, and Burden on Treatment Attendance among Family Caregivers for People with Dementia
Faculty Mentor
Cory Chen
Major/Area of Research
Clinical Psychology
Description
INTRODUCTION: Over 11 million Americans serve as unpaid caregivers for a family member with dementia, contributing approximately 18 billion hours of unpaid care annually (Alzheimer’s Association, 2023). Caregiver burden is a well-documented consequence of this role, often leading to increased psychological distress. The Resources for Enhancing All Caregivers Health for Veteran Families (REACH VA) program has been shown to reduce caregiver burden, depression, anxiety, and stress (Nichols et al., 2014). However, treatment drop-out remains a significant concern. Social support has been linked to improved treatment adherence, buffering against caregiver burden, and fostering stronger therapeutic alliances (Asadi et al., 2014; Cothran et al., 2022). Additionally, attachment security may moderate these relationships, as individuals with insecure attachment styles often struggle to find support in others (Yang et al., 2024). This study investigated the relationships between perceived social support (PSS), adult attachment security (AAS), caregiver burden (CB), and percentage of treatment completed among family caregivers of people with dementia utilizing REACH VA.
METHOD: Participants (N = 38) were recruited through letters, referrals, and flyers at VA medical centers in NYC and completed validated measures of PSS, AAS, and CB. Treatment completion was calculated as the percentage of attended sessions. Hypotheses were tested using SPSS PROCESS Model 8 (Hayes, 2018).
RESULTS: Results indicated no significant relationships among PSS, AAS, CB, and treatment completion. Furthermore, AAS did not significantly moderate the relationship between PSS and treatment completion. The overall model accounted for 35.6% of variance in treatment attendance, yet yielded small effect sizes.
CONCLUSION: Factors such as the small sample size and bimodal distribution of treatment attendance may have contributed to the lack of statistical significance. Future research should explore alternative operationalizations of treatment attendance and attachment measurement to better capture these complex dynamics.
Examining the Impact of Social Support, Attachment, and Burden on Treatment Attendance among Family Caregivers for People with Dementia
INTRODUCTION: Over 11 million Americans serve as unpaid caregivers for a family member with dementia, contributing approximately 18 billion hours of unpaid care annually (Alzheimer’s Association, 2023). Caregiver burden is a well-documented consequence of this role, often leading to increased psychological distress. The Resources for Enhancing All Caregivers Health for Veteran Families (REACH VA) program has been shown to reduce caregiver burden, depression, anxiety, and stress (Nichols et al., 2014). However, treatment drop-out remains a significant concern. Social support has been linked to improved treatment adherence, buffering against caregiver burden, and fostering stronger therapeutic alliances (Asadi et al., 2014; Cothran et al., 2022). Additionally, attachment security may moderate these relationships, as individuals with insecure attachment styles often struggle to find support in others (Yang et al., 2024). This study investigated the relationships between perceived social support (PSS), adult attachment security (AAS), caregiver burden (CB), and percentage of treatment completed among family caregivers of people with dementia utilizing REACH VA.
METHOD: Participants (N = 38) were recruited through letters, referrals, and flyers at VA medical centers in NYC and completed validated measures of PSS, AAS, and CB. Treatment completion was calculated as the percentage of attended sessions. Hypotheses were tested using SPSS PROCESS Model 8 (Hayes, 2018).
RESULTS: Results indicated no significant relationships among PSS, AAS, CB, and treatment completion. Furthermore, AAS did not significantly moderate the relationship between PSS and treatment completion. The overall model accounted for 35.6% of variance in treatment attendance, yet yielded small effect sizes.
CONCLUSION: Factors such as the small sample size and bimodal distribution of treatment attendance may have contributed to the lack of statistical significance. Future research should explore alternative operationalizations of treatment attendance and attachment measurement to better capture these complex dynamics.