Social support and self-help support among spouse caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease

A review of the literature regarding social support suggests that the central assumption of most social support studies has been that social support is a positive phenomenon. However, the effectiveness of self-help groups has not been established by scientific study, even though there has been much public enthusiasm for the phenomenon. This lack of empirical data and the fact that there has not been consistency in the research findings point to a need for more experimental study of social support. There is evidence that the influence of certain psychological variables such as stress management, marital adjustment, and subjective well-being affect the outcomes. Many researchers have explored what factors brought caregivers to a support group experience, but few have examined the support group experience of the participants. Without systematic evaluations of group meetings, there is no mechanism to verify the desired outcome. This research was designed to identify elements of social support of caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's Disease which may impact stress, well-being, support group membership, and benefit from support group membership. The variables were well-being, stress, marital intimacy, and perceived social support. Measures consisted of the Bradburn Affect Scale, the Procidano and Heller PSS-Fr (perceived support from friends) and PSS-Fa (perceived support from family) Scales, the Spanier Dyadic (Marital) Adjustment Scale, and the Gruetzner Stress Management Stress Scale. There were significant differences between males and females on the PSS-Fr Scale and the Gruetzner Care Management Stress Scale. Comparisons between support group participants and nonparticipants were limited due to the small number of nonparticipants (12). There were patterns, however, which suggested that participants may have less friend support, be more stressed, and perceive a more intimate relationship with their spouse. High benefit from support groups for females appeared to be linked to number of meetings attended, number of people in the meetings, and talking.