DIE PSIGOFORTOLOGIESE BELEWENIS VAN DIE EGGENOOT VAN âN PASIÃNT MET ALZHEIMER SE SIEKTE

• Main Author: Pretorius, Chrisma
• Other Authors: Prof PM Heyns
• Format: Others
• Language: en-uk
• Published: University of the Free State 2007
• Subjects: Psychology
• Online Access: http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-09252007-134029/restricted/

Alzheimerâs disease has a great impact on both the caregiver and his or her patient. This study describes Alzheimerâs disease and the impact thereof on the caregiver of a person with Dementia of the Alzheimerâs type. The purpose of this study is, firstly, to investigate the experience of a husband of a person with Alzheimerâs disease from a psychofortological perspective. This experience is investigated through focusing on the exceptional challenges that caregiving faces and highlights the strengths that are needed to cope with these challenges. Men that act as caregivers for spouses with Alzheimerâs disease are included in this study. A further goal is to formulate guidelines from the findings from the field of psychofortology for the use of male caregivers of people with Alzheimerâs disease. A final goal is to compare the results of this study with the results of Potgieter (2000), whose focus was on the needs of female caregivers. This survey is of a binary nature, as both quantitative and qualitative means of data analysis are employed. Ten male caregivers were included in this project. For the quantitative part of this study, five questionnaires were used, namely, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmonds, Larsen & Griffin, 1985), the Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1987), the Fortitude Questionnaire (Pretorius, 1998), the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hillier, 1979) and the Burden Interview (Zarit, Reever & Bach-Peterson, 1980). The psychometric tests were conducted only to verify the qualitative findings and were analysed using descriptive statistical techniques. For the qualitative part of the study (which represents the major part), semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with husbands caring for spouses with Alzheimerâs disease. An orientational qualitative method of analysis (Patton, 2002) was utilised to analyse and code the latter information. This approach aims to investigate the configuration of existing theoretical models in a new domain. The psychofortological aspect of incidence and more specifically, the Sense of Coherence of Antonovsky, were utilised as theoretical bases, following the work of Potgieter (2000). In this study, confirmation was found for the experiences of male caregivers of spouses with Alzheimerâs disease, already identified in earlier research. The comparison between male caregivers of this study and female caregivers from the study conducted by Potgieter (2000), revealed various similarities, but also interesting differences. It is clear from the results that male caregivers make a unique and valuable contribution to caregiving. A number of factors that play an important role in the experiences of the male caregiver were identified. Included, was the need of time for himself; thus, people from the community may be trained to provide a degree of escape for the caregiver. The establishment of support groups for male caregivers has great potential, but the format thereof should be adapted to the needs of male caregivers. The biggest strength of male caregivers that was evident, was the problem-focused coping mechanisms they possess. Male caregivers are inclined to underreport caregiver-burden. Religion, as well as support from their children, especially from their daughters, played a major role in the comprehensibility, controllability and meaning that male caregivers find in the caregiving situation. These factors may make a positive contribution to the advancement of the way caregivers handle the challenges of the caregiving situation and should be employed in the development of any support programmes for male caregivers of spouses with Alzheimerâs disease.