Friday, 14 January 2005 - 2:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Faith Matters, Social Support, and Coping in Late Life

Does Religiosity Impact the Appraisal and Coping Processes of Alzheimer's Disease Caregivers

Purpose: It is well established that that caregiver’s appraisal of burden and appraisal of satisfaction (Lawton, et al., 1989), as well as the type of problem or emotion-focused coping behaviors (Pearlin et al., 1990) will impact the well-being of caregivers. What is less clear is what factors, other than the problematic behavior of the person with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), also impact the appraisal or coping processes. Although religiosity has been found to help mediate caregiving stress (Picot, Debanne, Namazi, & Wykle, 1997; Chadiha & Fisher, 2002), it is not clear what impact religiosity might have on the appraisal or coping processes of caregivers. The purpose of this study was to use an adaptation of the stress and appraisal models of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) and Pearlin, Mullan, Semple, and Skaff (1990) to determine if the caregivers’ sense of religiosity impacts the caregivers’ appraisal of burden and satisfaction or their use of problem or emotion-focused coping.

Methods: A purposive sample of AD caregivers (N=347) was used to identify a culturally-mixed sample of African American (N=87), Hispanic (N=113), and White non-Hispanic Caregivers (N=147). A series of regression equations was used to test the impact of religiosity on the appraisal of satisfaction and burden and the impact of religiosity on the use of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping behaviors. Post-hoc analyses were also conducted to examine the similarities and differences among the three cohorts of caregivers.

Findings: The findings indicate religiosity had a direct effect on the caregivers’ appraisal of satisfaction (F=30.54; [1,338]; p < .001). While controlling for the contextual variables of caregivers’ age, gender, income, and education, and the presence of problematic behaviors of the AD person, religiosity explained approximately 17% of the adjusted variance in the appraisal of satisfaction. Religiosity also had a direct effect on the use of emotion-focused coping skills (F=4.58, [1,333], p< .05) explaining approximately 12% of the adjusted variance in emotion-focused coping. Religiosity did not have a significant direct effect on either the caregivers’ appraisal of burden or the caregivers’ use of problem-focused coping skills. The post-hoc analysis did indicate that the African American and Hispanic caregivers reported significantly higher use of religiosity than the White non-Hispanic AD caregivers.

Implications: The findings of this study indicate that religiosity does play an important role both in the caregivers’ ability to positively appraise their situation, as well as the use of emotion-focused coping skills. Given some of the prior research that has demonstrated the importance of positive appraisal, this research both confirms prior research and suggests that further research in this area is needed. The findings also suggest that a strengths-based intervention or faith-based intervention that includes some discussion about the role of religion in the caregivers’ current caregiving role could help increase both positive appraisal and strengthen emotion-focused coping skills and ultimately caregiver well-being.

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