Caregiving and social support in two illness groups.

The authors analyzed whether spouse caregivers of people with noncognitive disorders such as Parkinson's disease or people with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease differed in their use and perception of social support resources. There were no differences between the groups on the Social Support Appraisal Scale. However, caregivers of spouses diagnosed with cognitive disorders were older, had fewer children, and had fewer financial resources, and their spouses had fewer years of formal education and more problems with activities of daily living. On average, caregivers of Alzheimer's patients had been dealing with their spouses' chronic illness for a significantly shorter time. Results from logistic regression analysis indicated that four variables distinguished Alzheimer's caregivers from Parkinson's caregivers: hours of assistance from family members, instrumental activities of daily living, physical activities of daily living, and availability of personal help in a crisis.