The role of religious/spiritual coping among African-American informal caregivers of older adults, 2007

This study examined the relationship of sociodemographic background, religious/spiritual coping, overall health, and perceived stress among a sample of African-American informal caregivers of physically and emotionally dependent community dwelling older adults. Quantitative data used in this study was provided by participants selected from the first wave of the longitudinal Family Relationships in Late Life Two (FRILL2) Study; The Family Relationship in Late Life (FRILL, R01AG15321) project is funded by the National Institute of Health/National Institute on Aging. The findings reported in this study included 173 African-American caregivers from a total number of respondents (N = 417) who participated in the FRILL2 Study. The majority of the participants of this study were married (52%) females (70%) providing care to co-residing older adults sixty-five years of age or older (87%) who lived in various communities. The results of the study indicated a strong relationship between the utilization of religious/spiritual coping and perceived stress among African American informal caregivers of physically and emotionally dependent community dwelling older adults