Data from 78 older persons and their family caregivers were obtained at 6 weeks and 9 months after hospital discharge. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to determine whether mutuality and preparedness for caregiving were related to lower levels of caregiver role strain. The results indicated that, after controlling for five other variables commonly found to be related to caregiver role strain, mutuality and preparedness ameliorated some but not all aspects of role strain.