Open AccessPerceived Experience of Caring for a Wife with Stroke
Author(s) -
Pierce Linda L.,
Steiner Victoria,
Hicks Barbara,
DawsonWeiss Judy
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
rehabilitation nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.355
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2048-7940
pISSN - 0278-4807
DOI - 10.1002/j.2048-7940.2007.tb00147.x
Subject(s) - wife , narrative , psychological intervention , affect (linguistics) , psychology , intervention (counseling) , control (management) , social psychology , computer science , psychiatry , philosophy , linguistics , communication , artificial intelligence , political science , law
This article presents a 55‐year‐old husband's perceived experience of caring for his wife with stroke, as learned from his 1 year of participation in a Web‐based support intervention study. In a secondary analysis of data, his narrative entries ( n = 213) were coded and drawn to Friedemann's framework of systemic organization. The themes that emerged from these data were that of the caregiver providing support, offering solutions, and taking control. Friedemann's system maintenance process dimension was the area that captured most of his experience, which indicated that this caregiver spent a significant amount of his energy in creating control and stability within his environment to maintain congruence or balance in his life. These findings can be used to identify and design interventions, which for male spousal caregivers, affect the quality of their lives.