Association of Caregiving Receipt with Mental Health Utilization in a National Cohort of Older Adults

What is the primary question addressed by this study?? Using a unique combination of comprehensive survey data and Veterans Affairs health care records encompassing 12 years, we used mixed effects logistic regression models to examine the association between receiving any in-home caregiving assistance and likelihood of mental health utilization in a sample of community-dwelling older veterans.?What is the main finding of this study??After accounting for demographics, caregiver availability, health factors, and socioeconomic status, caregiving receipt was associated with two-fold odds of MH utilization, compared to receiving no assistance. Being classified as having dementia and reporting less severe depressive symptoms potentiated the relationship between caregiving receipt and using mental health care.?What is the meaning of the finding?? We found that for this group of community-dwelling older adults, having a caregiver is associated with increased odds of using mental health care, suggesting that caregivers may represent an underutilized resource to reduce age-related disparities in mental health access.
AB - ?What is the primary question addressed by this study?? Using a unique combination of comprehensive survey data and Veterans Affairs health care records encompassing 12 years, we used mixed effects logistic regression models to examine the association between receiving any in-home caregiving assistance and likelihood of mental health utilization in a sample of community-dwelling older veterans.?What is the main finding of this study??After accounting for demographics, caregiver availability, health factors, and socioeconomic status, caregiving receipt was associated with two-fold odds of MH utilization, compared to receiving no assistance. Being classified as having dementia and reporting less severe depressive symptoms potentiated the relationship between caregiving receipt and using mental health care.?What is the meaning of the finding?? We found that for this group of community-dwelling older adults, having a caregiver is associated with increased odds of using mental health care, suggesting that caregivers may represent an underutilized resource to reduce age-related disparities in mental health access.