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Sheindy Pretter, PhD, Victoria H Raveis, PhD, Daniel Karus, MS, and Monique Carrero, MS. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 100 Haven Avenue, Ste. 6A, New York, NY 10032, 212-304-6487, sp431@columbia.edu
Spouses who are living with and caring for terminally ill cancer patients are placed in the difficult predicament of struggling to fulfill the physical and emotional needs of their ill spouses while simultaneously contending with the stress of their own impending widowhood. Findings are presented from a study of 122 older caregiving spouses (mean age = 63.7 years, SD = 7.4) of terminally ill cancer patients, recruited from two large metropolitan cancer centers. The study examined whether and to what extent religiosity, social support, and sense of coherence were psychosocial resources for caregiving spouses. Participants reported high levels of depression, with more than a third (36.7%) having scores above a cut-off point for depressive distress. The relationships among the study variables were different for men and women. Path analyses with LISREL indicated that for women (60.7% of the sample), higher levels of intrinsic religiosity and, marginally, emotional social support, were indirectly associated with less depression,through their effect on sense of coherence. For men, intrinsic religiosity also had an indirect effect on depression through sense of coherence. However, in addition, higher levels of emotional support directly predicted greater depression. Implications of these results will be discussed, as they relate to understanding the different ways in which men and women experience this life crisis, including how study findings can inform clinicians involved in gerontological health.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Aging, Caregivers
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.