Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Heart--Diseases--Patients--Rehabilitation--Social aspects; Heart--Diseases--Patients--Family relationships;
Abstract
Social support has been shown to benefit the recovery of cardiac patients on many levels. However, this general conclusion has not yet been conclusively defined regarding variables such as the role of gender in the provision and receipt of support and the specific effects of the marriage relationship on the healing process. Furthermore, researchers are still working on the best construct to describe and operationalize the various types and modes of social support for the cardiac patient. This study investigated how men as compared to women, and patients as compared to spouses reported the frequency and value of 4 different types of supportive behavior (emotional, informational, instrumental, and lifestyle support) . The researcher selected 9 female patients and 14 male patients, along with their spouses, from the population of cardiac rehabilitation patients at a medium-sized midwestern hospital. In 2 surveys, participants ranked examples of support (one survey was for frequency, the other for value) . Brief, semi-structured, open-ended interviews were also conducted to allow respondents to talk freely about what types of behaviors they considered to be supportive and non-supportive. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in the reported frequency of the four types of support. However, ANOVA results showed that patients valued informational support significantly more than spouses, and that women valued emotional support significantly more than men (p < .05). No significant interaction effects were discovered between the gender and patient/spouse variables. Thematic analysis of 38 interviews confirmed the 4 types of support used in the survey. Additional themes also emerged, including communication, general support/physical presence, and the spouse being overly concerned. In general, patients and spouses reported being satisfied with the support provided. This study supports some of the previous research efforts regarding spousal support with cardiac patients and gender variables in social support. Results provided some evidence that more attention should be paid to the possible effects of lifestyle support (maintaining or modifying the spouse's lifestyle to match that of the patient) and perceived available support (relating to general support/physical presence). Finally, the agreement demonstrated between the patient and spouse groups regarding what is effective support should be noted and further explored.
Year of Submission
1996
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Communication Studies
First Advisor
April Chatham-Carpenter
Second Advisor
Scott Carlin
Third Advisor
Archana Daya Shankar
Date Original
1996
Object Description
1 PDF file (133 leaves)
Copyright
©1996 Nichole Louise Egbert
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Egbert, Nichole Louise, "Dimensions of Social Support: Cardiac Patients and Their Spouses" (1996). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2557.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2557
Comments
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