Husbands caring for wives with dementia: a longitudinal study of continuity and change.

The longitudinal study reported in this article examines how the patterns of change over time for husbands who continue to care for their spouses in the community compare with husbands who place their spouses in nursing homes. There were 74 older men enrolled in the study initially; follow-up interviews were conducted with the available husbands who continued to provide care in their own homes or who had placed their spouses in nursing homes after one year. Potential theoretical relevance of the current findings and their implications for health and mental health social workers in terms of assessment, treatment, and program development for older male caregivers is highlighted.