Service Use, Caregiving Mastery, and Attitudes Toward Community Services

The purpose of this study was to determine correlates of selected caregiver attitudes toward community services in a sample of 215 spouse caregivers of persons with dementia. Predictors of two types of attitudes differed, confirming the multidimensionality and specificity of attitude for mation. Caregivers with higher levels of caregiving mastery, lower levels of caregiverprepared ness, less education, and more helpers had a greater likelihood of having confidence and trust in use of services. Women, African Americans, service users, and those with lower levels of caregiv ing mastery had a greater likelihood of accepting government and community services. The find ings highlight the complexity of the idea that improving attitudes toward community services will lead to greater use of caregiver support resources.