SENSE OF COHERENCE, COPING AND CAREGIVER ROLE OVERLOAD

The focus of the present study is to examine the relationship between Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence (SOC), the nature of patient pathology , situational coping responses, and role overload in Belgian primary c aregivers to dementing and nondementing chronically ill family members (n = 126). The hypotheses that caregivers with a strong SOC are likel y to cope in situationally-appropriate ways were confirmed. Sense of C oherence appears to have a protective effect, in the sense of the bein g related to management of the meaning of the situation, the selection of realistic coping strategies, and the avoidance of potentially mala daptive or unhealthy behaviors. Multi-variate analyses revealed that S OC alone predicted 29% of the variance in role overload for caregivers to dementing patients, while strategies to manage the situation and s ymptoms of distress were the only significant, yet maladaptive, coping responses for caregivers to nondementing patients. It is arguable tha t these findings indicate a threshold effect of the nature of patient disability on the protective effects of the sense of coherence. The mu lti-dimensional impact of caring for a patient with a dementing disord er exerts a unique and particular strain, one that requires caregivers to be able to cope by redefining the meaning of their relationship wi th their dependent. The theoretical rationale for the hypothesized thr eshold effect is explored.