Journal article
Finding Meaning in Written Emotional Expression by Family Caregivers of Persons With Dementia
American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Vol.31(8), pp.631-642
12/2016
DOI: 10.1177/1533317516660611
PMCID: PMC7241250
PMID: 27574336
Abstract
This study tested the effect of written emotional expression on the ability to find meaning in caregiving and the effects of finding meaning on emotional state and psychological burden in 91 dementia family caregivers. In a pretest-posttest design, participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a comparison group. Experimental caregivers (n = 57) wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings about caring for a family member with dementia, whereas those in the comparison group (n = 34) wrote about nonemotional topics. Results showed enhanced meaning-making abilities in experimental participants relative to comparison participants, particularly for those who used more positive emotion words. Improved meaning-making ability was in turn associated with psychological benefits at posttest, but experimental participants did not show significantly more benefit than comparison participants. We explore the mediating roles of the meaning-making process as well as some of the background characteristics of the individual caregivers and their caregiving environments.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Finding Meaning in Written Emotional Expression by Family Caregivers of Persons With Dementia
- Creators
- Howard K Butcher - College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA howard-butcher@uiowa.eduJean K Gordon - Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USAJi Woon Ko - Department of Nursing Science, Sun Moon University, Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, South KoreaYelena Perkhounkova - Office for Nursing Research and Scholarship, The University of Iowa College of Nursing, Iowa City, IA, USAJun Young Cho - Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USAAndrew Rinner - Information Technology Services, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USASusan Lutgendorf - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Vol.31(8), pp.631-642
- DOI
- 10.1177/1533317516660611
- PMID
- 27574336
- PMCID
- PMC7241250
- NLM abbreviation
- Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen
- ISSN
- 1938-2731
- eISSN
- 1938-2731
- Publisher
- United States
- Grant note
- R15 NR008213 / NINR NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/2016
- Academic Unit
- Communication Sciences and Disorders; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Nursing; Obstetrics and Gynecology; Urology
- Record Identifier
- 9984002592902771
Metrics
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