The relationships among Muslim Uyghur and Kazakh disabled elders' life satisfaction, activity of daily living, and informal family caregiver's burden, depression, and life satisfaction in far western China: A structural equation model.

1HypothesisDisabled elders' activities of daily living, caregiver burden, caregiver depression, and caregivers' life satisfaction are significantly related to the life satisfaction of elderly people with disability.2HypothesisThere are direct and indirect effects between the life satisfaction of elders, disabled elders' activities of daily living, and family caregivers' factors. This study explored the interrelationships of disabled elders' life satisfaction and activities of daily living, caregivers' factors (burden, depression, and life satisfaction) through a structural equation model. In total, 621 dyads of disabled elders and informal family caregivers completed questionnaires during face ‐ to ‐ face interviews in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from September 2013 to January 2014. Activity of daily living exerted a direct effect on life satisfaction of disabled elders and 30.4% indirect effect through caregivers' factors. Caregiver burden had a 60.0% direct effect on life satisfaction of disabled elders and a 40.0% indirect effect through the caregiver depression. Caregiver depression showed 76% direct effect on life satisfaction of disabled elders and 24% indirect effect through caregivers' life satisfaction. Direct relationships between activity of daily living and caregiver burden, caregiver burden and caregiver depression, and caregiver depression and caregivers' life satisfaction were observed. Activity of daily living had a 91.3% indirect effect on caregiver depression mediated by caregiver burden; caregiver burden had a 40.0% indirect effect on caregivers' life satisfaction mediated by caregiver depression. Results provide useful information for nurses and policymakers and shed light on the need to consider caregivers' factors in improving care recipients' life satisfaction. SUMMARY STATEMENT: What is already known about this topic? Disabled elders' life satisfaction is related to factors of the poor state of their own and caregivers' problem e.g. caregiver burden.The mechanism of how the factors affect disabled elders' life satisfaction is unclear. What this paper adds? The study created a causal chain among the disability elders' activity of daily living, caregivers' burden, depression, life satisfaction, and disabled elders' life satisfaction and explored the interrelationship between above factors and disabled elders' life satisfaction.Findings indicated that family caregivers' burden not only affects elders' life satisfaction directly but also brings further problems to affect disabled elders' life satisfaction indirectly. The implications of this paper: Government should pay high attention to the families of elderly people in long ‐ term home care; pension policies should support elders' families including informal family caregivers in poverty ‐ stricken ethnic minority areas.Examples of support include establishing assistance for the disabled elders, care training for family caregivers for free, establishment and improvement of respite care institutions, and psychological counselling. The caregiver's health should be comprehensively considered; formulation and improvement of a specialized disabled elders' family services.Nursing educators should include knowledge of the elderly in home care and ways of coping with care, nursing skills, and time management should be taught to family caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]