Sense of Coherence and Quality of Life in Women Family Members of the Seriously Mentally Ill

Providing care to a family member with serious mental illness (SMI) can reduce a family\u27s quality of life. Quality of life, however, can be positively influenced by the caregiver\u27s sense of coherence (SOC). Antonovsky\u27s Salutogenic Health Model was examined in this secondary analysis of data from 60 women family members of adults with SMI. The results indicated that greater perceived stress decreased SOC and QoL, greater SOC enhanced QoL, and SOC partially mediated the effects of perceived stress on QoL. The findings suggest the need for reducing stress and strengthening SOC to promote optimal QoL for family members of adults with SMI

Relationships Among Perceived Burden, Depressive Cognitions, Resourcefulness, and Quality of Life in Female Relatives of Seriously Mentally Ill Adults

Providing care and support to a seriously mentally ill (SMI) family member can have deleterious effects on one\u27s health and quality of life. This study explored relationships among perceived burden, depressive cognitions, resourcefulness, and quality of life in 60 African-American and Caucasian women family members of SMI adults. Caucasians reported greater burden than African-Americans; the groups were similar in depressive cognitions, resourcefulness, and quality of life. In Caucasians and African-Americans, burden correlated with depressive cognitions and both correlated with poorer mental health. In African-Americans, burden also correlated with lower personal resourcefulness and both correlated with poorer mental health. The findings suggest a mediating role by depressive cognitions for both groups and by resourcefulness in African-Americans. Thus, both groups of women may benefit from positive thinking while African-Americans also may benefit from learning personal resourcefulness skills

Factors Associated With Perceived Burden, Resourcefulness, and Quality of Life in Female Family Members of Adults With Serious Mental Illness

BACKGROUND: Each year, 54 million American adults are affected by serious mental illness. Most of these persons depend on female family members for support or assistance, and unless these women are resourceful, they may experience considerable burden, stigma by association, depressive thoughts, and poor quality of life. OBJECTIVE:In this study, we examined the associations between characteristics of female family members (age, race, education), adults with serious mental illness (age, diagnosis), and the family situation (relationship, living arrangements, care provided) and caregivers\u27 burden, stigma, depressive cognitions, resourcefulness, and quality of life.STUDY DESIGN:In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 60 female relatives of adults with serious mental illness provided demographic information and completed established measures of the study variables.RESULTS:We discuss associations between contextual variables and process regulators, resourcefulness, and quality of life.CONCLUSIONS:The results highlight the importance of targeting interventions for caregivers of adults with serious mental illness who are parents, caregivers of younger seriously mentally ill persons in earlier stages of diagnosis, and caregivers of persons who have bipolar disorde

Resilience in Family Members of Persons with Serious Mental Illness

This integrative review summarizes current research on resilience in adult family members who have a relative with a diagnosed mental disorder that is considered serious. Within the context of resilience theory, studies identifying risk/vulnerability and positive/protective factors in family members are summarized, and studies examining seven indicators of resilience, including acceptance, hardiness, hope, mastery, self-efficacy, sense of coherence, and resourcefulness, are described. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for future research are presented

Factors Affecting Disruption in Families of Adults With Mental Illness

PURPOSE: This study examined relationships between vulnerability/risk and protective factors, and family functioning in women family members of adults with serious mental illness. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using a descriptive, correlational design, this secondary analysis examined characteristics of the family member with mental illness (e.g., diagnosis, level of care) and measures of caregiver stigma and strain, client dependence, family disruption, sense of coherence, and resourcefulness. FINDINGS: Family disruption was greatest inwomenwho provided direct care and whose family member had major depression, followed by bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and panic disorder. Sense of coherence and resourcefulness were associated with lower family disruption, but did not mediate the effects of caregiver strain. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Interventions restricted to one family member may be insufficient for improving the family functioning

Effects on Resilience of Women Family Caregivers of Adults With Serious Mental Illness: The Role of Positive Cognitions

This study examined the effects of risk and protective factors on resilience in 60 women family members of adults with serious mental illness. Both the risk factors constituting caregiver burden (strain, stigma, client dependence, and family disruption) and protective factors, including eight positive cognitions were found to predict two indicators of resilience: resourcefulness and sense of coherence. The effects of caregiver burden on resourcefulness and sense of coherence were mediated by positive cognitions, lending support to resilience theory and suggesting the need to develop interventions to encourage positive thinking among women caregivers of adults with mental illness

Evidence for Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Interventions: An Update (2011 through 2015)

This state-of-the-evidence review summarizes characteristics of intervention studies published from January 2011 through December 2015, in five psychiatric nursing journals. Of the 115 intervention studies, 23 tested interventions for mental health staff, while 92 focused on interventions to promote the well-being of clients. Analysis of published intervention studies revealed 92 intervention studies from 2011 through 2015, compared with 71 from 2006 through 2010, and 77 from 2000 through 2005. This systematic review identified a somewhat lower number of studies from outside the United States; a slightly greater focus on studies of mental health professionals compared with clients; and a continued trend for testing interventions capturing more than one dimension. Though substantial progress has been made through these years, room to grow remains. In this article, the authors discuss the background and significance of tracking the progress of intervention research disseminated within the specialty journals, present the study methods used, share their findings, describe the intervention domains and nature of the studies, discuss their findings, consider the implications of these studies, and conclude that continued track of psychiatric and mental health nursing intervention research is essential

Potential Success and Barrier Factors for Implementation of the Transition to Independence (TIP) Model

In this qualitative study, 28 key stakeholders who work with transition-aged youth participated in focus group discussions addressing success and barrier factors regarding implementation of a transition to independence process (TIP) program for youth, ages 14–29, in three Midwestern cities. All participants had prior knowledge of TIP. The paradigm shift to client-oriented goals and services was acknowledged by respondents as the prime benefit of TIP; youth are more motivated to follow through on self-determined goals. Barrier factors for providers involved collaboration with agencies adhering to provider-oriented interventions, provision of TIP methods training, and reallocation of time and money. Barrier factors for youth involved mistrust of service providers, overcoming maturational deficits, and acquiring and maintaining relationships, reputations, and social supports

Potential Success and Barrier Factors for Implementation of the Transition to Independence (TIP) Model

In this qualitative study, 28 key stakeholders who work with transition-aged youth participated in focus group discussions addressing success and barrier factors regarding implementation of a transition to independence process (TIP) program for youth, ages 14–29, in three Midwestern cities. All participants had prior knowledge of TIP. The paradigm shift to client-oriented goals and services was acknowledged by respondents as the prime benefit of TIP; youth are more motivated to follow through on self-determined goals. Barrier factors for providers involved collaboration with agencies adhering to provider-oriented interventions, provision of TIP methods training, and reallocation of time and money. Barrier factors for youth involved mistrust of service providers, overcoming maturational deficits, and acquiring and maintaining relationships, reputations, and social supports

Objective negative evaluation level, perceived stress, and autonomic reactivity in a lab-based stress induction : a test of moderated mediation in a three-variable system

Objective stress exposure, the impartial level of threat, and perceptions of stress, the level of threat a person endorses feeling, are important constructs in biopsychosocial research on internalizing psychopathology risk. One stress responsive physiological system that is integral to physical health and implication in mental health outcomes is the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Perceived stress is likely to be one mechanism (i.e., mediator) via which objective stress exerts an effect on ANS reactivity, but also the relationship between perceived stress and ANS reactivity may intensify as objective stress increases (i.e., moderation)—that is, potential moderated mediation in a three-variable system. The present study investigated the role of stress exposure and perceived stress in the activation of multimodal ANS indicators in 128 healthy undergraduates. Participants were randomized to three distinct objective levels of negative evaluation in a laboratory-based stress induction, variations of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST): a non-stressful control (n = 44), an intermediate ambiguously negative evaluative condition (n = 46), and an explicit negative evaluative condition (n = 38). Indicators of autonomic functioning, salivary alpha amylase (sAA), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) and heart rate (HR) were measured repeatedly to gauge TSST reactivity. For each of the four ANS indicators (sAA, SBP, DBP, and HR), I hypothesized that I would observe significant moderated mediation in a three-variable system (a relatively novel statistical approach), in which increasing objective negative evaluation level (1) directly predicts increased reactivity in ANS indicators, (2) is mediated by perceived stress in the pathway to ANS reactivity, and (3) also moderates the relationship between perceived stress and ANS indicators, such that the relationship between perceived stress and ANS indicators strengthens as negative evaluation level increases. Findings indicated there was no evidence of moderated mediation. Whereas stress condition (objective negative evaluation level) was strongly related to our measurement of perceived stress (e.g., t = 2.539, p = .011), in contrast it was only weakly related to stress reactivity across ANS indicators, with statistically significant direct effects for only two of the four outcomes (SBP, DBP). Findings help guide future research with investigating more sensitive mediators and outcomes when using multiple manipulations/stress level conditions of the TSST