Abstract
Living with a chronic illness requires adaptations for the individual and the entire family. The effects of stressors on individual health outcomes have been extensively studied. However, the effects of spousal interactions on the chronically ill individual's health have not been fully explored. This study explores three processes that may add to the understanding of when the behaviors of a husband are perceived to be helpful by his wife when dealing with the pain of RA. Is it when the support offered by the husband is that which the wife desired and/or received, and/or when the support received was that which she "desired” as with synchronous support? Is it when the husband's and wife's coping strategies to deal with the wife's RA pain are "similar” as with congruent coping? Or is it when both spouses sense that they are loved, listened to, and "valued” as with a good marriage? The effect of these three processes is examined on the husband's helpfulness and subsequent reduction of the wife's RA pain.
Sigma Membership
Iota at-Large, Omicron Phi
Type
Dissertation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Descriptive/Correlational
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Spousal Relationship Dynamics, Chronic Illness in Women, Spousal Helpfulness
Advisor
Kenneth Wallston
Degree
PhD
Degree Grantor
Vanderbilt University
Degree Year
1999
Recommended Citation
Dowdy, Sharon W., "Synchronous support, congruent coping, or a good marriage: Which is more important to the wife's perception of her husband's helpfulness in dealing with her rheumatoid arthritis pain?" (2020). Dissertations. 1012.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/dissertations/1012
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2020-06-19
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9933238; ProQuest document ID: 304529515. The author still retains copyright.