Caitlin K Holley

Publications (2)6.12 Total impact

• Article: The impact of anticipatory grief on caregiver burden in dementia caregivers.

  Caitlin K Holley, Benjamin T Mast
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  ABSTRACT: Interest in anticipatory grief (AG) has typically focused on terminal diseases such as cancer. However, the issues involved in AG are unique in the context of dementia due to the progressive deterioration of both cognitive and physical abilities. The current study investigated the nature of AG in a sample of dementia caregivers and examined the relationship between AG and caregiver burden. A total of 80 informal caregivers of individuals with dementia completed interviews and questionnaires assessing their experience of grief, physical and mental health, aspects of the caregiving situation, and the level of patient impairment. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to examine whether AG is significantly associated with caregiver burden. AG was shown to be significantly and independently associated with caregiver burden in this sample, beyond the effects of known predictors such as background characteristics, behavior problems in the care recipient, and depressive symptoms. The current results suggest that grief may be an important yet understudied aspect of the caregiving experience. It is likely that consideration of grief in future conceptualizations of caregiver burden can lead to better support for caregivers and more accurate predictions of outcomes.
  The Gerontologist 05/2009; 49(3):388-96. · 2.48 Impact Factor
• Article: The effects of widowhood and vascular risk factors on late-life depression.

  Caitlin K Holley, Benjamin T Mast
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the impact of conjugal loss on depression is greater in the presence of vascular risk factors (CVRFs) (stress vulnerability hypothesis), or whether conjugal loss and CVRFs are independent predictors of depression following spousal loss (independent pathways hypothesis). The current study is a secondary data analysis of the Changing Lives of Older Couples database, which is a study of older widowed persons. One thousand five hundred thirty-two participants engaged in a baseline interview, and interviews were conducted 6, 18, and 48 months after the death of a spouse. Spousal loss is a significant predictor of depressive symptoms at six months after the death. At 18- and 48-months postloss, CVRFs significantly predict depression onset, however no interactions between the two variables were seen at any of the three follow-up waves. Looking longitudinally from baseline to each follow-up wave, the widows with low CVRFs were at greater risk for elevated depression at six-months postloss than the non-widows with low vascular risk, and all widows were at a greater risk for elevated depression at 18-months postloss. At 48-month follow-up, those with high CVRFs who had not lost a spouse were at significantly greater risk for depression than the non-widows with low CVRFs. Results do not provide support for the stress-vulnerability hypothesis and suggest that loss and CVRFs are independent predictors of depression, whose effects vary with the passage of time.
  American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 08/2007; 15(8):690-8. · 3.64 Impact Factor