STROKE PATIENTS WELL-BEING AS A FUNCTION OF CAREGIVING SPOUSES HELPFUL AND UNHELPFUL ACTIONS

This study examined the perceptions that 55 older married stroke patie nts had about themselves and about the motivations of their caregiving spouses when they judged their spouses' actions to be helpful and whe n they judged them to be unhelpful. It also examined how these percept ions were related to patients' well-being (depression, positive affect , marital satisfaction). Patients had more negative perceptions of the mselves and of their spouses when they judged the actions to be unhelp ful than when they judged them to be helpful. The hypothesis that perc eptions about unhelpful actions would be more strongly related to pati ents' well-being than would perceptions about helpful actions was only partially supported. Perceptions about unhelpful actions were related to patients' depression, but perceptions about helpful actions were r elated to positive affect. Both kinds of perceptions were related to m arital satisfaction;Findings begin to explicate the complex relationsh ip between perceived helpfulness of actions and well-being.