The purpose of this study was to recognize a unitary pattern within the lives of spousal caregivers following their spouses' discharge from the hospital after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The unitary pattern emerged through four themes: dyadic relationship life patterns influenced caregivers' roles and responsibilities, life patterns of caring for self and others were altered, life patterns of certainty and knowing were limiting, awareness of life pattern gave meaning, and new perception on life left to live. The study added empirical support to the theory of health as expanding consciousness and provided a new way to examine the spousal caregiving experience.
Previous research attempting to relate absorption to hypnotic time perception has been inconclusive. The present study provides a more thorough test of the absorption hypothesis by assessing the separate and combined effects of hypnotic responsiveness, hypnotic versus waking context, and involvingness of the stimulus content. Sixty subjects, tested in either a waking or a hypnotic condition, provided retrospective time estimates of two taped story narrations, selected to represent opposite extremes of interest and involvement. Overall, duration estimates were shorter for the involving than for the noninvolving content, and high-responsive subjects tended to give shorter estimates than did low-responsive subjects. However, the only substantial underestimation occurred when the high-responsive subjects listened to the involving tape in the hypnotic context-a finding that supports a general absorption hypothesis. Several alternative explanations for the pattern of results are discussed and new research directions are proposed.
The primary lessons learned were: (a) early identification of caring dyads prior to crisis must be improved; (b) in vivo observation is essential to individualized interventions targeting behavioral etiologies and developing caregiver skills; (c) intervention delivery depends on the nurse interventionist's skills and a flexible, trusting researcher-dyad relationship; (d) complex caregiver situations affect treatment receipt and enactment; and (e) intervention enactment requires coaching, practice, and support over time. These findings help to explain issues impacting intervention implementation to a vulnerable population. Recommendations for intervention research design to maximize internal and external validity in real-life care contexts can inform future outcome studies, aid in the search for improved care, and lead to supportive public policy for families living with AD.
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