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Biomedical subjects

R A Pruchno

Publications and source records attributed to R A Pruchno.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Mental and physical health of caregiving spouses: development of a causal model.

This study modeled the causal relationship between physical health and depression among a sample of 315 people providing home care for a spouse who had been diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease. In addition to significant stability paths and correlations among variables at any one point in time, significant lagged paths were found in which depression (1) predicted physical health (2), depression (2) predicted physical health (3), and depression (1) predicted burden (2). Contrasting the overall model for husband and wife caregivers over a 6-month period indicated that the model was significant for wives but not for husbands.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Predictors of institutionalization among Alzheimer disease victims with caregiving spouses.

A theoretical model predicting "desire to institutionalize" and actual institutionalization was developed and tested on a sample of 220 persons caring for a demented spouse. Significant predictors of "desire to institutionalize" include age and education of caregiver, spouse's forgetful behaviors, ADL tasks done by the caregiver, medications taken by the caregiver, services used, and quality of relationship with spouse. Predictors of actual institutionalization are desire to institutionalize, length of time spent as a caregiver, religion, uplifts, and forgetful behaviors of the impaired spouse.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Mental health of sons and daughters of the institutionalized aged.

Predictors of depression in a study of 331 adult children whose parents resided in nursing homes were respondent's poor health, time pressures, viewing the parent as demanding, and lack of involvement with IADL tasks. Emotional effects specific to parent's situation were predicted by poor health, negative perceptions of nursing home staff, upsetting visits, time pressures, and being female and young. Predictors of depression and emotional effects between sons and daughters are compared.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The effects of help patterns on the mental health of spouse caregivers.

Investigated were the patterns of task assistance and social support received by 315 people who were the primary caregivers to spouses suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Despite the fact that spouse caregivers themselves are old and frail, they continue to provide the bulk of care required by their impaired partner. When help is forthcoming from any source, it is minimal. Contrary to the hypothesis that back-up sources of support or confidants should buffer the primary caregiver from negative mental health effects, there was no relationship between existence of either task support or social support and mental health.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Mental health of caregiving spouses: coping as mediator, moderator, or main effect?

Coping strategies used by 315 persons providing care to a spouse diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease were characterized as either emotion-focused (wishfulness, acceptance, intrapsychic) or problem-focused (instrumental). Models in which coping strategies were postulated as having mediator, moderator, and independent main effects were tested using multiple indexes of mental health. Wishfulness and intrapsychic strategies mediated the relationship between degree of stress and CES-D, Anxiety, and Depression. Wishfulness had a direct effect on Obsessive-Compulsive, Somatization, and Interpersonal Sensitivity; intrapsychic strategies had a direct effect on Obsessive-Compulsive, Somatization, and Interpersonal Sensitivity; and instrumental strategies had a direct effect on Positive Affect. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that stressors and coping strategies explained between 12% and 40% of the variance on mental health indexes.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Aberrant behaviors and Alzheimer's disease: mental health effects on spouse caregivers.

The relationships between well-being of 262 caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients and forgetful, asocial, and disoriented behaviors on the part of the impaired spouse were examined using three one-way MANOVAs. Results indicate that asocial and disoriented behaviors have linear relationships with levels of burden, specific mental health problems attributed to caregiving, and the extent to which caregivers sacrificed aspects of their social life. Asocial behaviors were also linearly related to overall level of caregiver depression. Forgetful behaviors, on the other hand, have relationships with burden, specific mental health problems attributed to caregiving, and social change that are nonlinear. Data are interpreted in terms of the predictable course of Alzheimer's disease and associated role expectations.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1989

Husbands and wives as caregivers: antecedents of depression and burden.

Contrasting predictors of depression among 101 men and 214 women providing care to spouses suffering from Alzheimer's Disease indicated that the sole predictor for husbands was ill health, whereas for wives less emotional investment was also predictive. While there were no significant predictors for burden among husbands, for wives, burden was associated with poorer health, less emotional investment, greater spouse impairment, and provision of more assistance with tasks.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1989

Caregiving spouses. Physical and mental health in perspective.

The self-reported physical and mental health of 315 persons caring for a spouse who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder was compared with general population norms for existing data bases controlling for age and gender. Results suggest that across all indicators of mental health, spouse caregivers are more depressed, express higher levels of negative affect, are more likely to use psychotropic drugs, and have more symptoms of psychological distress than the general population. In terms of physical health, caregivers report higher than expected rates of diabetes, arthritis, ulcers, and anemia, yet they use medical services at rates which are similar or lower than those reported by the general population. Since no simultaneous control group was studied, these results suggest, but do not prove, the presence of differences between caregivers and non-caregivers.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Psychometric assessment of the Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects (MOSES).

The factor structure of the MOSES proposed by Helmes et al. (1987) was tested using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures. Results indicated that although the number of factors suggested was appropriate, the manifest variables proposed for each latent factor were not stable. A modified 5-factor model using 24 of the original 40 variables was proposed and tested. Confirmation of the modified model suggests factorial invariance across two independent samples. Internal consistency for the five scales measured by coefficient alphas ranged from 0.62 to 0.92. Difficulties in scoring MOSES items are discussed, and solutions offered for alleviating the problems. The 5-factor MOSES model is suggested as a useful research and clinical tool.

Aged↗