Abstract
This study compared levels of stressors, resources, and caregiving stress among elderly spouse caregivers by gender. It also examined whether the stressors and resources had different effects on spouse caregivers' psychological, physical, and social conditions by gender. The subjects included primary spouse caregivers : 68were males and 134 were females. Stressors included care recipients' ADL and cognitive limitations, frequencies of caregiving, and durations of caregiving. Resources included financial conditions ; availability of additional caregiver(s) ; and utilization of home care, day care, and short-stay services. The effects of caregiving included the emotional exhaustion, the number of physical symptoms, and social restrictions due to caregiving. The results of t-tests showed no gender differences in any stressor, while male caregivers were more likely to have additional caregiver(s) and to use home care service(s). Male caregivers also had lower scores in emotional exhaustion and physical symptoms. Multiple regression analyses and variable to variable analyses showed that financial conditions had significant relationships with physical symptoms and social restrictions only among females, while the number of cognitive limitations had a significant relationship with physical symptoms only among males.
