COPING WITH THE MENTAL ILLNESS OF ONE'S SPOUSE (SPOUSAL COPING).
Contributors: University of Rochester.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 176
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Mental Health.
Description: A descriptive correlational design was used to test a model which depicted relationships among personality and situational factors, the coping process and well-being in spouses with mentally ill partners. In addition, relationships between different forms of appraisal and coping responses were described.

Seventy-one spouses (49 husbands and 22 wives) of newly admitted psychiatric in-patients comprised the convenience sample. Their mean age was 55.5 years, 93% were white, 49% were employed full-time, 55% had attended college and their occupations were fairly evenly distributed across all categories. Data were collected by a psychiatric nurse during a single interview with each subject. The following measurements were used: a single item Seriousness of Illness Question, the Event Familiarity Scale, the Life Orientation Test which measures dispositional optimism, the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, the Illness Appraisal Questionnaire, the revised Ways of Coping Checklist, the Affect Balance Scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

Subjects were most likely to perceive their spouse's illness as serious and as a challenge. Few of the Pearson r correlations computed between appraisal responses and coping responses were statistically significant. Consistent with other studies, subjects reported using a wide variety of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies in response to the spouse's illness. Subjects' levels of psychological distress were higher than published norms for non-patients and wives were significantly more distressed than husbands.

Testing of the theoretical model with path analysis provided limited support for the role of coping strategies as mediators of distress. In addition, neither cognitive appraisal or perceived uncertainty were found to mediate distress. Dispositional optimism had the most consistent effects on both distress and happiness. Direct effects of optimism were significant in all but one test. Indirect effects of optimism were demonstrated in the presence of escape avoidance coping for men and women and in the presence of planful problem solving and reappraisal for women subjects.

Further research is warranted given the high levels of psychological distress reported by subjects. Recommendations include a longitudinal study of spousal coping, the use of family systems theory as a conceptual framework, exploration of differences in coping by men and women, examination of the influence of various symptom patterns on coping and clarification of the mechanisms through which optimism influences psychological outcomes.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: B, page: 6218.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, 1992.

School code: 0188.