Caregiving for Parkinson's Disease Patients: An Exploration of a Stress-Appraisal Model for Quality of Life and Burden

Extending the 2002 stress-appraisal model of Chappell and Reid, we examined the relationships between caregiver stressors; (e.g., cognitive impairment and functional dependency of the recipient), appraisal (informal hours of caregiving), and protective factors (e.g., social support, self-esteem, and quality of the caregiver-recipient relationship) associated with the burden and quality of life of Parkinson's disease caregivers. There were 136 caregivers (M = 64.59 years) who completed an online survey. Using structural equation modeling, we found that the extended stress-appraisal model of Chappell and Reid provided a good fit to the data (chi(2) = 67.87, df = 55, p > .05; chi(2)/df = 1.23, Comparative Fit Index = 0.98, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.04). This study provides an important contribution to a growing field of research that applies theoretical models to investigate the stressors, appraisals, and protective factors that impact caregiver well-being.