Mothers with chronic illness and their spouse/partner: Uncertainty, family hardiness, and psychological wellbeing
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Margaret C. Noreuil, PhD, RN, Dean at Edgewood College
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Mothers with chronic illness are expected not only to manage their chronic illness but also to continue to manage both family and work roles and obligations. The ability to manage various roles, and do them well, is difficult for healthy mothers; for a mother living with chronic illness, it may be impossible.
The purposes of this study were to: (1) describe levels of uncertainty, family hardiness, and psychological wellbeing in mothers with a chronic illness and their spouse/partner; (2) test for direct and moderating effects of uncertainty and family hardiness on psychological wellbeing in mothers and their spouse/partner; (3) examine congruency between mothers' and spouse/partners' uncertainty and family hardiness and the relationship to their psychological wellbeing; and (4) examine mothers and spouse/partners responses to open ended questions asking how they deal with the uncertainty of chronic illness.
Family Systems Theory (Whitechurch & Constantine, 1993) and The Resiliency Model of Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 1996) were the theoretical frameworks for this study.
This study is a cross sectional correlational study. Families who have a mother living with chronic illness and at least one child under the age of 18 living at home were eligible for participation. Sixty mothers and 30 spouse/partners participated in the study.
For mothers and spouse/partners, family hardiness was a significant predictor of psychological wellbeing. No moderating effects were found for uncertainty and family hardiness on the psychological wellbeing of mothers and their spouse/partner.
Four themes were identified from mothers and spouse/partners responses to questions about living with chronic illness: (1) Education, which included educating others about the illness, including the impact of the illness on the family; (2) Seeking support, which included asking others for help; (3) Creative problem solving, which included setting priorities and simplifying their lives; and (4) Living for today included living day by day and planning activities at the last minute to manage the unpredictability of chronic illness.
Mothers with chronic illness and their spouse/partner face many challenges in living with chronic illness. Health care professionals need to empower families, focusing on family strengths and resiliency factors such as family hardiness in an effort to promote the psychological wellbeing of all family members.
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3072758; ProQuest document ID: 305533876. The author still retains copyright.
This item has not gone through this repository's peer-review process, but has been accepted by the indicated university or college in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the specified degree.
Type | Dissertation |
Acquisition | Proxy-submission |
Review Type | None: Degree-based Submission |
Format | Text-based Document |
Evidence Level | Cross-Sectional |
Research Approach | Quantitative Research |
Keywords | Mental Wellbeing; Chronic Illnesses; Family Support; Family Resilience; Mothers |
Grantor | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
Advisor | McCubbin, Marilyn; Bogenschneider, Karen |
Level | PhD |
Year | 2002 |
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