Willingness to Provide Spousal Care if Needed in the Future

SynopsisIn contrast to research into current caregiving, limited attention has been given to the willingness of family members to care for one another at some stage in the future. This report describes a scale measuring the willingness of middle-aged men and women to provide care if their spouse ever requires community-based support. Willingness to care was negatively correlated with the burden anticipated from caring, and both measures varied as a function of the disability the spouse was identified as having experienced. Respondents were generally consistent in terms of how they ordered willingness to provide care across 18 disability states. Research employing a prospective design is required to determine the extent to which intentions to provide spousal care translate to practice if and when the need and opportunity for such caregiving arises.