Premium
A Couplehood Typology for Spouses of Institutionalized Persons With Alzheimer's Disease: Perceptions of “We”–“I” *
Author(s) -
Kaplan Lori
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2001.00087.x
Subject(s) - typology , perception , psychology , disease , spouse , gerontology , qualitative research , developmental psychology , social psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , sociology , social science , pathology , neuroscience , anthropology
A qualitative analysis of 68 community‐dwelling spouses of institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease was conducted. The goal was to ascertain to what degree they perceived themselves as married. Five groups representing different degrees of couplehood emerged. Ranging from strong couplehood to no couplehood, groups were given the following terms: “’Til Death Do Us Parts,”“We, but …,”“Husbandless Wives/Wifeless Husbands,”“Becoming an I,” and “Unmarried Marrieds.” Ways to interpret this typology and implications for both further research and practitioners are described.