Depressive symptoms in older female carers of adults with intellectual disabilities.
Two-thirds of older female carers of adults with ID show high depressive symptoms—check carer health and support before treating client behavior.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team mailed a short survey to older women who care for an adult with intellectual disability.
They asked how the women felt, how healthy they were, and who helps them.
No one got an intervention; the goal was to see how many felt depressed and why.
What they found
Between 64 and 72 percent of these grand-mother-aged carers scored high on a depression screen.
The two biggest red flags were the carer’s own poor health and having little social support.
Client behavior mattered less than the carer’s own body and network.
How this fits with other research
Adams et al. (2021) pooled 32 studies and also found mothers of people with ID show more anxiety and depression than other moms.
Huang et al. (2014) later tested the PHQ-9 in the same caregiver group and again saw poor self-rated health predict depression, matching this paper’s clue.
Reeve et al. (2016) extends the story: when the adult also has autism, carer stress jumps even higher, so comorbidity is a second layer of risk.
Hermans et al. (2010) reminds us we still lack a perfect depression tool for adults with ID, so carers’ own reports remain key evidence.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with ID, screen the carer first. A quick PHQ-9 and two questions—"How is your health?" and "Who helps you?"—take one minute. High scores earn a warm hand-off to primary care or a caregiver support group. Healthy carers stay in the program longer, which keeps clients stable.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: This survey study aims to examine the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among primary older female family carers of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). METHOD: In total, 350 female family carers aged 55 and older took part and completed the interview in their homes. The survey package contained standardised scales to assess carer self-reported depressive symptoms, social support, caregiving burden and disease and health, as well as adult and carer sociodemographic information. Multiple linear regressions were used to identify the factors associated with high depressive symptoms in carers. RESULTS: Between 64% and 72% of these carers were classified as having high depressive symptoms. The factors associated with carer self-reported depressive symptoms were carer physical health, social support and caregiving burden; overall, the carer self-reported physical health was a stronger factor associated with depressive symptoms than their physical disease status. The level of the adult with ID's behavioural functioning and the carer age, marital status, employment status, education level and the family income level were not significantly associated with carer depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The factors identified in this study as correlating with self-reported depressive symptoms suggest that researchers and mental health professionals should collaborate to help improve the physical health and social support networks of the most vulnerable older female family carers. This should reduce depressive symptoms directly among this high-risk group.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01332.x