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Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders and Disasters

(PS13-80) Associations Between Concerned Significant Others’ Depression with Caregiving Experiences Among Romantic Partners of Recent Traumatic Injury Survivors

Sunday, November 17, 2024
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text: Concerned Significant Others (CSOs; i.e., friends, family members, romantic partners) are primary caregiving sources after trauma exposure, and effective support from CSOs is understood to be critical to recovery (Ruzek et al., 2007). However, very little work has investigated how CSO's mental health relates to their caregiving experiences, particularly in the traumatic stress literature. The present study aimed to examine the associations of CSO depression with experiences of caregiver mastery, satisfaction, guilt, and burden in a sample of romantic partner CSOs (N=513) of recent traumatic injury survivors. It was hypothesized that CSO depression would be negatively associated with caregiver mastery and satisfaction, and positively associated with caregiver guilt and burden when accounting for survivor post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and relevant demographic covariates. Data was collected via MTurk crowdsourcing. Regression analyses were run within a structural equation model which was created to examine the main effects of CSO depression on caregiving experiences, as well as the interaction between CSO depression and survivor PTSS. CSO depression symptoms were significantly associated with greater burden and guilt (B’s=.48***, .33***), and lower mastery (B=-.31***). There were also significant interactions between CSO depression and survivor PTSS on caregiver satisfaction (B=.18)*** and burden (B=.08*). Results largely support the hypothesis that CSO mental health influences positive and negative caregiving experiences. Further, the strength of the relationship between survivor PTSS and caregiver burden and satisfaction depends on CSO depression severity.