FAMILY CAREGIVERS' AND THEIR SPOUSES' WAYS OF COPING WITH AN ELDER PARENT IN THEIR HOME (CAREGIVERS).
Contributors: University of Pittsburgh.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 139
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.
Description: This is a descriptive study which examined the ways female family caregivers and their spouses cope with the stressor of having a parent aged 60 or over living with them. Using the Folkman & Lazarus (1988) Ways of Coping Questionnaire, it looked at the degree to which caregivers and their spouses used the eight ways of coping, and the differences in the degree to which the ways of coping were used by caregivers and their spouses. The sample was a convenience one consisting of 20 pairs of female caregivers and their spouses. Caregivers were identified through a rehabilitation center, an elder day care center, and referrals from individuals. A researcher-designed demographic questionnaire and two coping questionnaires were mailed to potential participants. The setting was rural.

The degree to which caregivers and their spouses used each of the ways of coping was analyzed by means of ranking the average item scores for each of the coping subscales. The differences in caregivers' and spouses ways of coping were analyzed using 2-tail paired t-tests. Planful Problem Solving was the most frequently identified way of coping by female caregivers, and Self-Controlling was the most frequently identified way of coping by their spouses. Escape-Avoidance and Accepting Responsibility were the least used ways of coping for both caregivers and their spouses. In this sample, female caregivers had higher scores than their spouses on all coping subscales except Distancing and Self-Controlling.

Interpretation of the findings suggest that caregivers' spouses functioned more as support, rather than substitute persons, for the female caregivers. This interpretation is consistent with the organizing framework of this study which postulated that members of spousal subsystems negotiate complementary roles when coping with stressors which result from relating to in-laws.

The significance of this study is that it addressed the problem of how families cope with caring for an elder parent from the perspective of the family spousal subsystem. It is anticipated that the results of this survey will assist nurses in better understanding the coping processes used by caregivers and their spouses.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-02, Section: B, page: 0746.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1990.

School code: 0178.