Graduation Year

2016

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Stacey Wood

Reader 2

Kevin Carlson

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© 2015 Maureen R Salinas

Abstract

Caregiving for a close family member with Alzheimer’s disease is a stressful situation to be in, that often leads to high levels of caregiver burden and subsequent stress and depressive symptoms, and while there are numerous community and government resources available to caregivers, there are aspects of Hispanic cultures that may lead Hispanic caregivers to have higher levels of caregiver burden and depressive symptoms than White caregivers. 80 Hispanic caregivers and 80 White caregivers, with 40 males and 40 females within each group, will be recruited to participate in this study. Scales will be administered to both Hispanic and White caregivers in order to assess levels of caregiver burden, depressive symptoms, familism values, gender role beliefs, acculturation levels, and knowledge, comfort, and use of community resources. Hispanic caregivers will have higher levels of caregiver burden and depressive symptom scores than White caregivers, while women will have higher scores overall than men overall. Hispanic caregivers will have less knowledge, comfort, and use of community resources than White caregivers, while gender role views, familism values, and acculturation levels will be mediating factors of these relationships. Cultural differences in caregiver burden need to be assessed further, so that clinical and practical implications for community and government resources can be discussed.

This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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