The sociocultural stress and coping model

The interaction between BPSD and caregiver burden can be conceptualized using the Sociocultural Stress and Coping Model (SSC model, Knight & Sayegh, 2010). The model explains how challenges in caring for individuals with dementia, mediated by perception of a high caregiver burden, are negatively associated with caregivers’ physical and mental health. The SCC model is based on Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) conceptual framework, which helps outline the interrelationships among stressors encountered in caregiving (e.g., the BPSD of people living with dementia), caregivers’ appraisal of these stressors (e.g., caregiver burden), coping responses, social support, and caregiver mental health outcomes. Knight and Sayegh (2010) expanded this model by suggesting that culturally specific values (e.g., filial piety, familism) influence social support and coping styles, which can alter how caregiver burden from the care recipient’s condition affects caregivers’ health outcomes.

The SSC model’s emphasis on culturally specific values is evident in findings that African American caregivers, who exhibit stronger familism compared to white caregivers, reported greater social support, which indirectly contributed to lower levels of caregiver burden and depression (Falzarano et al., 2022). Similarly, in a study of Hispanic and non-Hispanic White caregivers from the San Francisco, CA, area, Hispanic dementia caregivers demonstrated higher self-efficacy in managing upsetting thoughts related to caregiving compared to non-Hispanic White caregivers, which served as a significant mediator of lower caregiver burden in the Hispanic caregivers (Montoro-Rodriguez & Gallagher-Thompson, 2009). These findings go along well with the SSC model, as presumably, caregivers from tighter-knit Hispanic families may perceive less dementia caregiver burden than White dementia caregivers.