Contours of the caregiver experience: Social resources and health behaviors in caregiving partners of persons with a spinal cord injury

Background and rationale: Informal caregiving is highly prevalent in Switzerland and in the long-term associated with chronic stress as evidenced by its negative effects on caregivers health and well-being. To date, most of research on informal caregiving has been focused on the elderly. Yet, the evidence from these studies may not be applicable and misinform policy in context of physical disabilities, which may further concerns younger-aged caregivers. Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an exemplary condition for the enforced need of long-term informal care that oftentimes occurs in middle-age. To better understand the mechanisms behind the health-adverse effects of caregiving, a improved understanding of the interplay between social and behavioral factors and the caregiver experience is needed. This project was a follow-up of the longitudinal pro-WELL study (pro-WELL 1), which investigated associations of productive activities and social relationships with health and well-being in persons wi...研究背景与理论依据：非正式照护 (Informal caregiving) 在瑞士极为普遍，且长期与慢性应激密切相关，其对照护者健康与福祉的负面影响已得到充分证实。迄今为止，绝大多数针对非正式照护的研究均聚焦于老年群体，但此类研究的结论或许并不适用于肢体残疾群体，若以此为依据制定政策可能产生误导；而肢体残疾群体的照护者往往年龄较轻，这一问题更需引起关注。脊髓损伤（Spinal cord injury, SCI）是典型的需长期依赖非正式照护的病症，此类照护需求通常出现在中年人群中。为深入解析照护行为对健康产生负面影响的内在机制，亟需进一步厘清社会与行为因素与照护体验之间的相互作用关系。本项目为纵向研究“pro-WELL研究（pro-WELL 1）”的追踪研究，该前期研究曾探讨了生产性活动与社会关系对……人群健康与福祉的关联。