Patterns of coping
Both sets of caregivers employed a wide range of coping
strategies to deal with the problems posed by patients.
Both adaptive methods, such as seeking social support
or problem-focused coping, and non-adaptive ones,
such as avoidance, collusion or coercion, were used.
Many previous studies have found a comparable broad
repertoire of coping, and a mixture of problem-focused
and emotion-focused styles among caregivers (Scafuza
and Kuipers 1999). In the present study, the most common
method of coping was to ask for advice and help
from doctors, family members or friends. All patients
were hospital attendees living with their relatives. Thus,
it was somewhat self-evident that caregivers should turn
to doctors and close ones for help in times of crisis. The
use of such methods could also be related to the high
perceived levels of support among caregivers suggesting
that they felt that they could rely on such persons during
difficult times. Further, it is possible that social support
was being sought so frequently because it is usual for people to use adaptive strategies in the first instance to
cope with stress (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). At the
same time, there is evidence to indicate that caregivers
often resort to emotion-focused strategies when faced
with chronically stressful situations (Magliano et al.
1998b). This would explain the very high prevalence of
collusion and at least one cognitive avoidant strategy
(i. e. hoping for miracles/praying, etc.) among caregivers
of this essentially chronically ill patient sample.