Profiling the needs and resources of family caregivers of older adults in Hong Kong: a latent profile analysis

A collective consideration of the needs and resources of family caregivers of frail older adults can provide human service professionals with a more holistic picture of the unique challenges and opportunities for spot-on service matching and support strategies. We used a person-centered approach to encapsulate the interplays of caregiving needs and resources into concise profiles for Hong Kong family caregivers of frail older adults. Family caregivers were recruited from non-government organizations and completed surveys.

We utilized data from a cross-sectional scale development study (Sample 1, N = 321) and a clustered randomized controlled trial (Sample 2, N = 565) within the Caregiver Support Project. Latent profile analysis was used to identify caregiving profiles based on needs and resources, together with their antecedents and outcomes. Four quantitatively different caregiving profiles were consistently identified across the two samples: “Minimalist caregivers” (low resources, low needs), “resourceful caregivers” (high resources, low needs), “deprived caregivers” (low resources, high needs), and “striving caregivers” (high resources, high needs).

Deprived caregivers were in earlier stages of caregiving, less educated, and caring for older adults with worse conditions. Striving and deprived caregivers reported poorer mental health outcomes, while resourceful caregivers were the most resilient. Interestingly, striving caregivers reported positive aspects of caregiving similar to resourceful caregivers.

The four caregiving profiles revealed may be useful in the triage stage for prioritizing follow-up assessments and tailoring support strategies according to caregivers’ distinct combinations of needs and resources, thereby supporting more targeted caregiver interventions and service policies. The authors thank all of the participants for their invaluable contribution to this study. Our heartfelt appreciation goes to the Simon K.Y Lee Foundation, Mr.

LUI Shu Ho Jeffrey, and Mr. CHAN Hau Lung for their support in facilitating the project's operation; and the four local NGOs (Hong Kong Christian Service, S.K.H. Wong Tai Sin District Elderly Community Centre, Methodist Centre, and Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service) for their assistance in recruiting participants.

This work was supported by the Simon K.Y. Lee Foundation and the Research Matching Grant Scheme of the University Grant Committee, Hong Kong SAR. Cyrus Lap Kwan Leung and Kin-Kit Li are co-first authors.