Discussion 8

Extract

In his presentation, Dr. Burns discussed attributional style and emotional expressiveness as determinants of a caregiver's response to behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Dr. Hendrie asked whether attributional style reflected how caregivers felt not only about the patient's problems, but also about their own. Dr. Burns referred to ratings of relative causality, an indication of whether patients' relatives believed they may have contributed to symptoms in the patient or to their own symptoms, such as depression. However, Dr. Burns's studies did not specifically measure relative causality. Also, neither Dr. Burns nor others have studied attributional style and expressed emotion among paid caregivers, either those in private homes or in long-term care settings.