Education to assist spouses in coping with Alzheimer's disease. A controlled trial

This study investigates whether a brief educational program, provided to spouses of patients with Alzheimer's disease, improved the caregivers' coping skills; it also questions whether the gender of the spouse had an effect on coping ability. The sample consisted of 40 spouses who were caring for the Alzheimer patient at home, 20 who participated in the educational program, and 20 controls. The instrument used for the study was the Health Specific Family Coping Index (HSFCI). This instrument provided a quantitative assessment of overall family coping with both potential and actual health problems in the psychosocial and physical domains of health. It is rated in nine domains: physical independence, therapeutic competence, knowledge of the condition, application of principles of personal hygiene, attitude toward health care, emotional competence, family living patterns, physical environment, and use of community resources. A home visit was made by a registered nurse prior to the educational intervention and at the end of the four-week intervention period. The HSFCI was completed at each visit. There were no pretreatment differences between the intervention and control groups in coping ability. Findings indicate that the educational program was beneficial in assisting spouses to feel greater competence in the face of the disease process and to function with greater independence. In the treatment group, the greatest significant increase was in the knowledge domain, followed by therapeutic competence and emotional competence. There was no overall relationship between gender of the spouse and coping ability.