A day in the life of caregivers to older adults with and without dementia: Comparisons of care time and emotional health

Abstract

Introduction: How care-related time and emotional health over the day differ for those assisting older adults with and without dementia is unclear. Methods: Using 2134 time diaries from the National Study of Caregiving, we compared emotional health and care time for caregivers of older adults with and without dementia. Results: Caregivers to older adults with dementia experienced worse (higher scores) on a composite measure of negative emotional health (4.2 vs 3.3; P