The Impact of Caregiving on the Health and Well-being of Kenyan Luo Grandparents

Abstract

As the HIV/AIDS pandemic progresses in Africa, elders are increasingly responsible for the care of orphans. Several reports suggest that elderly Africans do not have the resources to provide care and are at risk of poor health, but few studies have systematically measured health of caregivers. The Kenyan Grandparents Study is a longitudinal study designed to compare elder Luo caregivers to noncaregiving peers. Several measures of health were collected, including body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, glucose, and hemoglobin. In addition, self-perceived health and mental health were measured using the MOS Short-Form 36 (SF-36). It was hypothesized that caregivers would have poorer health than noncaregivers and that the difference in health would widen over the three waves of the study. Caregiving did not affect physical health but did act to decrease mental health and perceived health over time.