The relationship between health and social support in caregiving wives as perceived by significant others

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between health and social support in wives who care for husbands with dementia. In order to understand how significant others begin mobilizing help for caregivers, the significant others' views of the carers' health and social support were analysed. Subjects comprised 75 significant others identified as being familiar with the caregiving situation of a like number of caregiving wives. Hypotheses, which were rejected, predicted that wife caregivers perceived as ill by the significant other would be seen as needing and receiving more social support as reported by the significant other. Findings indicated that healthy caregivers were perceived to have significantly more people in their social network.

Religiousness and depression: Evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence of stressful life events.

“…In a survey of bereaved parents, Maton (1989) reported that the correlation between religiousness and depression was -.33 among participants who had experienced the recent death of a child (a group identified as experiencing high distress) compared with -.16 among parents who had lost a child more than 2 years previously (a group identified as experiencing lower levels of distress). Similarly, Robinson and Kaye (1994) found a correlation of -.21 between religiousness and depressive symptoms in a sample of caregivers of dementia patients compared with a correlation of .05 among a sample of partners of healthy adults. Bickel et al (1998) divided participants into high-and low-stress groups based on scores from a measure of perceived stress and found that correlations among high-stress participants averaged -.27 whereas correlations among low-stress participants averaged zero.…”

Clarifying the social support theory‐research linkage

“…(1990 ). These studies addressed the perceptions of support needed or expected versus what was provided ( n =6) ( Logsdon et al 1994 , Nott et al 1995 , Riegel & Gocka 1995, Robinson & Steele 1995, Paarlberg et al 1996 , Sloper 1996); satisfaction with the support network or the actual or potential support ( n =30) (for example, Camp et al 1993 , Olson et al 1994 , Gottleib & Mendelson 1995, King 1996); the perceptions of reciprocity ( n =8) ( Anson et al . 1993 , Buunk et al .…”

Coping strategies of family carers for older relatives in Finland

“…Earlier studies on the coping of family carers have identified a host of complicating factors, such as the sense of being tied down, the lack of own time and the difficulty of breaking loose even for short periods (Jykylä & Åstedt‐Kurki, 1998; Coen, 2002; Rawlings & Spencer, 2002). The coping demands are greater if family carers get only limited support and help from the immediate environment, family and friends (Robinson & Steele, 1995; Coen, 2002; Rawlings & Spencer, 2002) and if interaction with the cared‐for person does not work (Pyykkö et al. , 2001).…”