Correlates of well-being among caregivers of cognitively impaired relatives.

The characteristics and use of respite services of 64 caregivers of severely cognitively impaired clients were correlated with the caregivers' purposes-in-life and burden outcome scores. Caregiver well-being was similar across users of a variety of respite service packages. Correlates of caregiver well-being, in spite of their burdens, were caregiver hardiness and favourable meaning given illness. Both of these cognitive variables exceeded the importance of perceived social support in explaining the variation in caregiver purpose-in-life.