Depressive symptoms and health promotion behaviors of African-American women who are family caregivers of hemodialysis recipients.

This study identified the level of depressive symptoms and the health promotion behaviors of 75 African-American women who are family caregivers of hemodialysis recipients. Caregivers' scores, on average, reflected no depressive symptoms (0 to 15). However, three caregivers (4.0%) had scores reflecting severe distress. Depressive symptoms can influence how individuals perceive the world and self, therefore, an intervention to decrease or manage depressive symptoms would be useful for this population. Other interventions should focus on health promotion strategies to help caregivers maintain or achieve optimal health. Interventions should focus on assessing caregivers'perceptions of their health status and developing specific interventions that help the caregiver to decrease depressive symptoms and anxiety levels, and improve health promotion strategies.

African-American women's perceived health status while caring for a relative with end stage renal disease.

This study describes health status, health status changes, and factors predicting perceived health status of 75 African-American women caring for relatives with end stage renal disease. One-third of participating caregivers rated their health as fair or poor; others reported good health. Increased worry, mood changes, and stress/tension were problematic. Numbers of prescription medications, physician office visits in the past 6 months, and health problems- along with caregiver age and depression total score-explained 31% (p = 0.000) of total variance in perceived health status. This caregiver population would benefit from health promotion interventions.