MARRIAGE, SPOUSAL CAREGIVING, AND A HUSBAND'S MOVE TO A NURSING HOME A Changing Role for the Wife?

Abstract

1. Gerontological nurses, when working with elderly couples experiencing role transitions upon nursing home placement, must attend to the needs of the healthier spouse, as well as the institutionalized patient. 2. Letting the community-dwelling wife set the tone for what her continued role will be allows her to define her marriage in a way that serves her needs at this transitory time. 3. If a woman defines herself as a wife, the nurse or nurse clinician's task may be to aid her in redefining the role's tasks, responsibilities, and limitations imposed by the nursing home setting. 4. If a woman does not perceive herself as a wife, nurses must help her accept these feelings as natural, and support her need to establish an identity as an individual and not as part of a couple.

Contradictions of interaction for wives of elderly husbands with adult dementia

“…According to Ade-Ridder and Kaplan (1993), the "loss of functional capacity of one partner has reciprocal emotional effects on both partners" (p. 15). Throughout the entire deterioration process, the cognitively functional spouse must begin to reorganize the marital relationship around the dependency of the spouse with ADRD (Morgan & March, 1992).…”

“…On one hand, they are still married and therefore part of a couple; while, on the other, they are alone and disengaging as they pregrieve the loss of their partners. Moreover, the responsibilities of marriage for the well spouse can actually increase as they assume new roles and tasks that had been previously handled by the institutionalized spouse (Ade-Ridder & Kaplan, 1993;Braithwaite, 2002;Kaplan & Ade-Ridder, 1991;Rollins et al, 1985). Yet, in assuming these new roles and mastering new tasks, they simultaneously begin a life of independence from their spouses (Rollins et al, 1985).…”

‘I really feel I’ve let him down’: supporting family carers during long‐term care placement for elders

“…1995 ), who experience a complex range of ambivalent emotional reactions ( Allen et al . 1992 , Ade‐Ridder & Kaplan 1993, Dellasega & Mastrian 1995, Dellasega & Nolan 1997). Typically there are feelings of relief accompanied by emotions such as guilt, shame, sadness and a sense of failure ( Allen et al .…”

“…Typically there are feelings of relief accompanied by emotions such as guilt, shame, sadness and a sense of failure ( Allen et al . 1992 , Ade‐Ridder & Kaplan 1993, Aneshensel et al . 1995 , Dellasega & Mastrian 1995, Nolan et al .…”

Transition in care: family carers′ experience of nursing home placement

“…Entry to care does not necessarily mark the end of caregiving for the family member but rather signals the beginning of a different but still potentially stressful involvement (Nolan et al . 1996, Ade‐Ridder & Kaplan 1993, McCullough et al . 1993, Ross et al .…”