The authors examined the ways in which 40 women with chronic illnesses (rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, or a combination of these disorders) used religious beliefs as a means of coping with their illnesses, The participants, all between the ages of 28 and 79 years, were interviewed about the role religious beliefs played in their experiences and the ways in which they made meaning in their lives or coped with their illnesses. The majority of the women reported that religious beliefs were important in living with a chronic illness. In addition, more women who were identified as coping well with their illness reported strong religious beliefs, whereas the majority of women identified as poor copers reported that religion was unimportant or that they had no religious beliefs.
The current study examines marital satisfaction from the perspective of a well spouse who is responsible for caregiving a spouse with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Forty spouses of individuals with MS completed questionnaires. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship of love, satisfaction with physical intimacy, communication, and caregiver burden to marital satisfaction. Results indicated that love and communication were significantly positively related to marital satisfaction, and caregiver burden was significantly negatively related to marital satisfaction. Satisfaction with physical intimacy was not significantly related to marital satisfaction with this sample of caregiver spouses. Implications for counselors were discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.