Browsing by Author "Li, Lun"

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    Employment Adjustment and Mental Health of Employed Family Caregivers in Canada
    (2019-01-04) Li, Lun; Lee, Yeonjung; Walsh, Christine Ann; Lai, Daniel W. L.
    In Canada, with the population aging, the need of family caregiving to older adults is increasing. Family caregivers make employment adjustment in order to fulfil caregiving responsibility. However, the studies on the family caregivers’ mental health outcomes associated with employment adjustment are limited. Based on the role theory and stress process model, the current study examined the relationship between employment adjustment and mental health outcomes among family caregivers, and also tested the functions of family-to-work role conflict and workplace support in this relationship. Data were drawn from the 2012 Canada General Social Survey Cycle 26: Caregiving and Care Receiving, which provided a sample of 1,696 employed family caregivers. Hierarchical linear regression and conditional process analysis were used to examine the relationship among employment adjustment, mental health, family-to-work role conflict, and workplace support. The analysis results revealed that employment adjustment is significantly associated with negative mental health outcomes, including worse self-rated mental health, more psychological symptoms, and higher life and caregiving stress level. In addition, the mediating effect of family-to-work role conflict was confirmed, such that family-to-work role conflict mediates the association between employment adjustment and mental health outcomes. Furthermore, the moderating effect of workplace support was identified in the relationship between employment adjustment and family-to-work role conflict. Despite some limitations, current study contributes to the existing body of literature on the mental health outcomes of family caregivers by examining the function of employment adjustment, family-to-work role conflict and workplace support at the same time. The study results also call for greater attention to provide caregiver-friendly workplace support to family caregivers.
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    Multimorbidity resilience and COVID-19 pandemic self-reported impact and worry among older adults: a study based on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)
    (2022-02-02) Wister, Andrew; Li, Lun; Cosco, Theodore D.; McMillan, Jacqueline; Griffith, Lauren E.
    Abstract Background The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a spectrum of adversities that have affected older adults disproportionately. This paper examines older adults with multimorbidity using longitudinal data to ascertain why some of these vulnerable individuals coped with pandemic-induced risk and stressors better than others – termed multimorbidity resilience. We investigate pre-pandemic levels of functional, social and psychological forms of resilience among this sub-population of at-risk individuals on two outcomes – self-reported comprehensive pandemic impact and personal worry. Methods This study was conducted using Follow-up 1 data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), and the Baseline and Exit COVID-19 study, conducted between April and December in 2020. A final sub-group of 9211 older adults with two or more chronic health conditions were selected for analyses. Logistic regression and Generalized Linear Mixed Models were employed to test hypotheses between a multimorbidity resilience index and its three sub-indices measured using pre-pandemic Follow-up 1 data and the outcomes, including covariates. Results The multimorbidity resilience index was inversely associated with pandemic comprehensive impact at both COVID-19 Baseline wave (OR = 0.83, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [0.80,0.86]), and Exit wave (OR = 0.84, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [0.81,0.87]); and for personal worry at Exit (OR = 0.89, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [0.86,0.93]), in the final models with all covariates. The full index was also associated with comprehensive impact between the COVID waves (estimate = − 0.19, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [− 0.22, − 0.16]). Only the psychological resilience sub-index was inversely associated with comprehensive impact at both Baseline (OR = 0.89, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [0.87,0.91]) and Exit waves (OR = 0.89, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [0.87,0.91]), in the final model; and between these COVID waves (estimate = − 0.11, p < 0.001, 95% CI: [− 0.13, − 0.10]). The social resilience sub-index exhibited a weak positive association (OR = 1.04, p < 0.05, 95% CI: [1.01,1.07]) with personal worry, and the functional resilience measure was not associated with either outcome. Conclusions The findings show that psychological resilience is most pronounced in protecting against pandemic comprehensive impact and personal worry. In addition, several covariates were also associated with the outcomes. The findings are discussed in terms of developing or retrofitting innovative approaches to proactive coping among multimorbid older adults during both pre-pandemic and peri-pandemic periods.