Nurses Caring for Older Adult Family Members: Disclosing Caregiving to Work Supervisors

Abstract

Background: Disclosure of family caregiving to work supervisors is needed for nurses to access work support for family caregiving. Little is known about characteristics of nurses who decide to/not to disclose family caregiving to supervisors. Objective: The objective was to examine characteristics of nurses based on whether they disclosed caregiving responsibilities to their nursing supervisors and describe reasons for non-disclosure. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey. Registered nurses who had a work supervisor and cared for an older adult family member completed a survey including demographics, work and caregiving characteristics, and disclosure. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were conducted. Results: The sample included 162 nurses. Participants were on average 50 years old, 90.1% female, 65.4% married, and 80.9% were caring for a parent or parent-in-law. The disclosure was more likely among nurses who provided higher intensity care (hours of care), cared for a parent or in-law, or had a quality caregiver-care recipient relationship. Reasons for non-disclosure included wanting to separate personal and work life, discomfort, and fear of consequences. Conclusions: Nurses struggle with similar disclosure challenges as other family caregivers. Care intensity, caregiver-care recipient relationships, and care stress were associated with disclosure behaviors.