Caregiver preparedness is associated with desire to seek long-term care admission of hospitalized persons with dementia.

Introduction: Hospitalized patients with dementia are more likely to be discharged to long-term care compared to persons without dementia. Little research has been conducted to examine the associations of caregiver preparedness and strain with desire to seek long-term care in hospitalized persons with dementia at discharge. The purpose of this study was to examine caregiver preparedness and strain as factors associated with desire to seek long-term care admission in caregivers of persons with dementia at hospital discharge.
Methods: Patient baseline and discharge data, and caregiver discharge data of 424 patient and caregiver dyads from a cluster randomized trial was used. Stepwise multiple linear regression was conducted to examine factors associated with caregiver desire to seek long-term care.
Results: After controlling for caregiver and patient characteristics, lower caregiver preparedness (β = -0.069; p < 0.016) was significantly associated with increased desire to seek long-term care.
Discussion: Findings underscore the need for clinicians and service providers to provide further attention to caregiver preparedness throughout the course of hospitalization.
(© 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)