LINKED LIVES - HOW HOMEBOUND STATUS SHAPES PHYSICAL HEALTH INTERDEPENDENCE IN CARE DYADS

Sep 29, 2026

Homebound older adults who cannot leave home without assistance often face multiple health conditions, functional limitations, and complex care needs. Family caregivers provide essential support but may experience higher physical strain and greater frailty risk. Because caregiver and older adult outcomes are closely connected, frailty may be interdependent across care dyads. Using National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Survey of Caregiving dyadic data (2015, 2017), the study tests interdependence and whether it varies by homebound status.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Study Design and Data

Dyadic Groups by Homebound Status

APIM Findings and Patterns

Implications for Interventions

Innovation in Aging, 2025, Vol. 9, No. S2 369 Abstract citation ID: igaf122.1254 LINKED LIVES: HOW HOMEBOUND STATUS SHAPES PHYSICAL HEALTH INTERDEPENDENCE IN CARE DYADS Hyojin Choi1, and Kate Perepezko2, 1. University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States, 2. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, United States Homebound older adults-those who cannot leave home without someone’s help–tend to have multiple health conditions, substantial functional limitations, and complex care needs. Family caregivers play an instrumental role in supporting these adults and may experience greater physical strain and an increased risk of frailty. Given the strong connection between caregiver and older adult health outcomes, their frailty may also be interdependent. The current study examined this interdependence and if it varied by older adult homebound status. Using dyadic data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study and the National Survey of Caregiving (2015 and 2017), the sample was divided into three groups: becoming homebound (n=108; not homebound in 2015, homebound in 2017), long-term homebound (n=235; homebound in 2015 and 2017) and never homebound (n=166; not homebound in 2015 or 2017). Actor-Partner Interdependence models (APIM) were employed to examine the interdependence of frailty in caregiving dyads. In long-term homebound and never homebound dyads, APIM models revealed partner effects from caregiver to care recipient, indicating when caregivers were frail at baseline, frailty of care recipients declined in the following wave. Interestingly, in becoming homebound dyads, a care recipient to caregiver partner effect was observed, with baseline care recipients’ frailty associated with subsequent caregiver frailty. These preliminary findings demonstrate how frailty interdependence can vary by homebound status. These findings have implications for creating interventions aiming to prevent and reduce frailty for older adults and their caregivers, suggesting dyadic interventions may have greater success.

FAQs

What is the main focus of this study?

The study examines whether frailty is interdependent between family caregivers and homebound older adults, and whether this interdependence varies by homebound status.

How were participants grouped by homebound status?

The sample was divided into three groups: becoming homebound, long-term homebound, and never homebound, based on homebound status in 2015 and 2017.

What did the APIM models show in different dyad groups?

In long-term homebound and never homebound dyads, caregiver frailty at baseline predicted a decline in care recipient frailty in the next wave. In becoming homebound dyads, care recipient frailty predicted subsequent caregiver frailty.

Sep 29, 2026

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