THE COPING PROCESS IN FAMILY-MEMBER CAREGIVERS OF PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND RELATED DISORDERS (CHRONIC DEMENTIA).
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 190
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to identify what situations family-member caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders identify as stressful and what coping strategies they use to cope with these situations, as well as, to investigate the relationships between the choice of coping strategies and appraisal of the situation and appraisal of perceived power in the situation.

This descriptive correlational study consisted of 50 volunteer family-member caregivers, who were caring for chronic dementia patients in the home. In an interview subjects reported on the situation that was most stressful during the past week and appraised this situation as (1) harm/loss, (2) threat, or (3) challenge, and appraised their perceived power in this situation. Subjects then completed the Ways of Coping Checklist.

Data analysis consisted of frequencies, log linear analyses and chi square analyses. The most frequently reported stressor was the behavior of the chronic dementia patient. The majority of the subjects appraised their situation as either harm/loss (46 percent) or threat (44 percent) with only ten percent reporting their situation as challenge. The most frequently used problem-focused strategies were to just take one step at a time and to concentrate on what had to be done next. The most frequently used emotion-focused strategies were to let my feelings out somehow and to wish I could change what happened.

Log linear analyses revealed that subjects were significantly more likely to have low problem-focused coping scores in harm/loss situations. The greatest amount of variance in the model was acounted for by the relationship between high problem-focused coping scores and high emotion-focused coping scores. There was no statistically significant relationship between the overall coping patterns and perceived power. However, chi square analyses revealed a significant relationship between the use of six individual coping strategies and peceived power. Chi square analysis also revealed that caregivers with hired help were significantly more likely to have higher problem-focused coping scores.

The findings support the importance of nursing interventions which foster both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping such as encouraging caregivers to take one step at a time and encouraging them to ventilate their feelings. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: B, page: 1930.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1985.

School code: 0227.