Multiple sclerosis: stressors and coping strategies in spousal caregivers

Community health nurses, who have frequent and prolonged contact with patients afflicted with chronic disease, play a central role in the assessment and care of patients and their families who must deal with the many ramifications of long-term disease. The importance of multiple sclerosis in health care is a result of its worldwide prevalence rate of 57.9 per 100,000 population, its tendency to occur in the young adult, and its chronicity. This exploratory study was designed to describe the stressors of caregivers of individuals with multiple sclerosis, to identify coping behaviors used by caregivers, and to explore the relation between caregiver stress and caregiver coping behavior. The study sample included 20 caregiving spouses of individuals with multiple sclerosis. The data were collected through a semistructured interview of caregiving spouses. Caregiver coping behavior was measured with the Ways of Coping Checklist (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980), and caregiver stress was measured with the Caregiver Strain Index (B. C. Robinson, 1983). Descriptive statistics were calculated for each of the demographic and disability variables. Pearson product-moment correlations were employed to assess the relation between caregiver coping behavior and caregiver stress. Findings revealed significant correlations between caregiver stress and caregiver coping behavior. These findings indicate that as stress in the caregiving role increases, there is an increase in the use of various forms of coping behaviors, both problem focused and emotion focused. Types of stressors and coping strategies used by caregivers are described, and nursing implications are discussed.