Asked 30 families who cared for family member with Alzheimer's disease to provide narratives of daily care over 18 months. Found that different family members experienced their relationship with Alzheimer's disease patient to be continuous, continuous but transformed, or radically discontinuous with their relationship prior to the disease.…

Interviewed 11 caregivers for early-stage Alzheimer's patients to investigate changes in relationships concurrently with onset and progress of disease. Over 18 months, intimacy declined in both spouse and parent-child relationships. Caregivers were saddened at loss of reciprocal aspects of relationship and had difficulty coping with uncertain…

Investigated interpersonal vulnerability variables (marital history and quality of relationship prior to onset of Alzheimer's disease), caregiver resources, and appraisals of stressors as predictors of positive and negative outcomes among 72 wife caregivers. All variables were significant predictors of depression and quality of life even after…

Used stress and coping model to study predictors of individual differences in caregiver depression and satisfaction among 72 wife caregivers of husbands with Alzheimer's disease. Specifically examined relationship-focused caregiver coping strategies. Findings support need for expansion of conceptualization of caregiver coping to include…

In an exploratory, qualitative study of 16 daughters- and sons-in-law and their 16 spouses, 4 patterns emerged that highlighted the differences in their motivation for involvement in caregiving. Differences related to notions of obligation, reactive versus pro-active involvement, managerial roles in the family, and the differences in the impact of…