Global mastery, role-specific mastery, and well-being among Alzheimer's caregivers

The study investigates how the sense of mastery—the sense of control we feel we have over our lives—functions as a protective resource for Alzheimer's caregivers. Both global and role-specific components of mastery are used so that the independent influence of each component can be tested. The stress-process framework is used to model the impact of caregiving demands on the well-being of caregivers, with the mastery variables intervening between demand stressors and well-being. The study also tests whether the impact of caregiving mastery on global mastery is affected by varying levels of role importance, i.e., the psychological centrality of the caregiving role. Data are drawn from a sample of 200 spousal caregivers to people with Alzheimer's Disease. The findings show that the influence of caregiving demands on global mastery is mediated through caregiving mastery. Caregiving mastery functions as a moderator in the relationship between subjective demands (role overload and role captivity) and depression and anxiety.{09}That is, at higher levels of caregiving mastery, the positive association between subjective demands and depression and anxiety is less strongly positive. Additionally, the relationship of caregiving mastery to global mastery is moderated by the level of role importance. For those whom the role of caregiver was highly important, the positive association of caregiving mastery to global mastery was more strongly positive. These findings demonstrate the necessity of using role-specific measures of mastery in stress process research. The study also reinforces the value of the concept of psychological centrality for understanding the relationship of role-specific to global self-concepts and presents a new way to model psychological centrality by focusing on the particular role of caregiver.