Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:14:34.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Positive Experiences in Caregivers: An Exploratory Case Series

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Emma Bacon ,
Derek L. Milne ,
Alia I. Sheikh  and
Mark H. Freeston
Emma Bacon
Affiliation:
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust., UK
Derek L. Milne
Affiliation:
Newcastle University, UK
Alia I. Sheikh*
Affiliation:
Newcastle University, UK
Mark H. Freeston
Affiliation:
Newcastle University, UK
*
Reprint requests to Alia Sheikh, Department of Clinical Psychology, Ridley Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Recent research into positive experiences in caregivers has begun to redress the traditional focus on negative aspects of caregiving experiences. Method: This exploratory study used a cognitive-behavioural approach – namely, the transactional stress model (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) – to investigate associations between appraisals, coping, and gains over a 6-week period in a small sample (N = 4; case series) design involving stroke caregivers. Analysis involved visual inspection of graphs, supported by descriptive statistics, and co-variation analysis. Results: Participants reported high levels of positive experiences, and these increased over the study period, a previously unreported trend. The study also found individual differences in the interactions between appraisal, coping, and caregiving gain variables, findings explained by the transactional stress model. Conclusions: Implications for clinical practice and future research are addressed.

Keywords

Positive experiencescaregiversposttraumatic growthcopingtransactional stress model
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 95 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Affleck, G. and Tennen, H. (1996). Construing benefits from adversity: adaptational significance and dispositional underpinnings. Journal of Personality, 64, 899–922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, C. S., Linto, J. and Stewart-Wynne, E. G. (1995). A population-based assessment of the impact and burden of caregiving for long-term stroke survivors. Stroke, 26, 843–849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayres, L. (2000). Narratives of family caregiving: the process of making meaning. Research in Nursing and Health, 23, 424–434.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barlow, D. H. and Hersen, M. (1984). Single-Case Experimental Designs. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Bellizzi, K. M. (2004). Expressions of generativity and posttraumatic growth in adult cancer survivors. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 58, 267–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berg-Weger, M., Rubio, D. M. and Tebb, S. S. (2001). Strengths-based practice with family caregivers of the chronically ill: qualitative insights. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 82, 263–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, H. and Lincoln, N. B. (2000). Factors associated with strain in co-resident spouses of patients following stroke. Clinical Rehabilitation, 14, 307–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brannen, C. and Petite, K. (2008). An alternative framework for understanding women's caregiving stress: a qualitative application of the ways of coping model. Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 355–365.Google Scholar
Brossart, D. F., Parker, R. I., Olson, E. A. and Mahadevan, L. (2006). The relationship between visual analysis and five statistical analyses in a simple AB single-case research design. Behavior Modification, 30, 531–563.Google Scholar
Butcher, H. K. and Buckwalter, K. C. (2002). Exasperations as blessings: meaning-making and the caregiving experience. Journal of Aging and Identity, 7, 113–132.Google Scholar
Cadell, S. (2007). The sun always comes out after it rains: understanding posttraumatic growth in HIV caregivers. Health and Social Work, 32, 169–176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dennis, M., O'Rourke, S., Lewis, S., Sharpe, M. and Warlow, C. (1998). A quantitative study of the emotional outcome of people caring for stroke survivors. Stroke, 29, 1867–1872.Google Scholar
Draper, B. M., Poulos, C. J., Cole, A. M. D., Poulous, R. G. and Ehrlich, F. (1992). A comparison of caregivers for elderly stroke and dementia victims. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 40, 896–901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folkman, S. (1997). Positive psychological states and coping with severe stress. Social Sciences and Medicine, 45, 1207–1221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forsberg-Wärleby, G., Möller, A. and Blomstrand, C. (2001). Spouses of first-ever stroke patients: psychological well-being in the first phase after stroke. Stroke, 32, 1646–1651.Google Scholar
Franklin, R. D., Allison, D. B. and Gorman, B. S. (1996). Introduction. InFranklin, R. D., Allison, D. G. and Gorman, B. S. (Eds.), Design and Analysis of Single-Case Research (pp. 1–11). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Franklin, R. D., Gorman, B. S., Beasley, T. M. and Allison, D. B. (1996). Graphical display and visual analysis. In Franklin, R. D., Allison, D. B. and Gorman, B. S. (Eds.), Design and Analysis of Single-Case Research (pp. 119–158). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Han, B., and Hanley, W. E. (1999). Family caregiving for patients with stroke: review and analysis. Stroke, 30, 1478–1485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, S. P., Wood, V. A. and Langton-Hewer, R. (1996). Identification of stroke carers “at risk”: a preliminary study of the predictors of carers' psychological well-being at one year post-stroke. Clinical Rehabilitation, 10, 337–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, M. P., Turner, J. A., Romano, J. M. and Karoly, P. (1991). Coping with chronic pain: a critical review of the literature. Pain, 47, 249–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kazdin, A. E. (1982). Data evaluation. InKazdin, A. E. (Ed.), Single-Case Research Designs: methods for clinical and applied settings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Y., Schulz, R. and Carver, C. S. (2007). Benefit finding in the cancer caregiving experience. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 283–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinney, J. M., Stephens, M. A. P., Franks, M. M. and Norris, V. K. (1995). Stresses and satisfactions of family caregivers to older stroke patients. The Journal of Applied Gerontology, 14, 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, B. J. (1997). Gain in the caregiving experience: where are we? what next? The Gerontologist, 37, 218–232.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. (2000). Towards better research on stress and coping. American Psychologist, 55, 665–673.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
López, J., López-Arrieta, J. and Crespo, M. (2005). Factors associated with the positive impact of caring for elderly and dependent relatives. Archives of Gerontoloy and Geriatrics, 41, 81–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Low, J. R. S., Payne, S. and Roderick, P. (1999). The impact of stroke on informal carers: a literature review. Social Science and Medicine, 49, 711–725.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matson, N. (1994). Coping, caring and stress: a study of stroke carers and carers of older confused people. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 33, 333–344.Google Scholar
Moran, G., Dumas, J. E. and Symons, D. K. (1992). Approaches to sequential analysis and the description of contingency in behavioral interaction. Behavioral Assessment, 14, 65–92.Google Scholar
Nolan, M., Grant, G. and Ellis, N. (1990). Stress is in the eye of the beholder: reconceptualizing the measurement of carer burden. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 15, 544–555.Google Scholar
Peacock, E. J. and Wong, P. T. P. (1990). The Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM): a multidimensional approach to cognitive appraisal. Stress Medicine, 6, 227–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, S., Rosner, R., Butollo, W., Tedeschi, R. G. and Calhoun, L. G. (2003). Posttraumatic growth after war: a study with former refugees and displaced people in Sarajevo. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 71–83.Google Scholar
Purk, J. K. and Richardson, R. A. (1994). Older adult stroke patients and their spousal caregivers. Families in Society, 75, 608–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, S., Stephens, M., Femia, E., Zarit, S.H. and Braungart, E. (2004). Positive outcomes in caregiving: stability and change in competence and gain. The Gerontologist, 44, 652.Google Scholar
Schulz, R. and Tompkins, C. A. (1990). Life events and changes in social relationships: examples, mechanisms and measurements. Social support and clinical psychology (Special Issue). Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9, 69–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, R., Tompkins, C. A. and Rau, M. T. (1988). A longitudinal study of the psychosocial impact of stroke on primary support persons. Psychology and Aging, 3, 131–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seligman, M. E. P. and Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: an introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5–14.Google Scholar
Silliman, R. A., Earp, J. L., Fletcher, R. H. and Wagner, E. H. (1988). Stroke: the perspective of family caregivers. The Journal of Applied Gerontology, 6, 363–371.Google Scholar
Stephens, M. A. P., Norris, V. K., Kinney, J. M., Ritchie, S. W. and Grotz, R. C. (1988). Stressful situations in caregiving: relations between caregiver coping and wellbeing. Psychology and Aging, 3, 208–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, A. A. and Neale, J. M. (1984). New measurement of daily coping: development and preliminary results. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 892–906.Google Scholar
Stone, A. A., Kennedy-Moore, E. and Neale, J. M. (1995). Association between daily coping and end-of-day mood. Health Psychology, 14, 341–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tedeschi, R. G. and Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The posttraumatic growth inventory: measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 455–471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, S. C., Bundek, N. I. and Sobolew-Shubin, A. (1990). The caregivers of stroke patients: an investigation of factors associated with depression. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 115–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitaliano, P. P., DeWolfe, D. J., Maiuro, R. D., Russo, J. and Katon, W. (1990). Appraised changeability of a stressor as a modifier of the relationship between coping and depression: a test of the hypothesis of fit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 582–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, D. R., Legh-Smith, J. and Langton-Hewer, R. (1986). Effects of living with and looking after survivors of stroke. British Medical Journal, 293, 418–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A. M. (1993). Caregivers of persons with stroke: their physical and emotional wellbeing. Quality of Life Research, 2, 213–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yamashita, M. (1998). Family coping with mental illness: a comparative study. Journal of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, 5, 515–523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zarit, S. H., Reever, K. E. and Bach-Peterson, J. (1980). Relatives of the impaired elderly: correlates of feelings of burden. The Gerontologist, 20, 646–655.Google Scholar
Zeidner, M. and Saklofske, D. (1996). Adaptive and maladaptive coping. InZeidner, M. and Endler, N. S. (Eds.), Handbook of Coping: theory, research, and applications (pp. 505–531). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.