Caregiver burden in spouses of National Guard/Reserve service members deployed during Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom

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Title Caregiver burden in spouses of National Guard/Reserve service members deployed during Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Psychology
Author Caska, Catherine M
Date 2009-05-07
Description Spouses of combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder have elevated psychological distress, some of which has been explained by increased caregiver burden. However, there is very little knowledge regarding intraindividual characteristics of these spouses that may be related to their burden. The current study examined caregiver burden in a sample of 102 spouses of reserve component troops deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. Despite similar patterns of associations with spousal traits, factor analyses revealed that items related to burden and distress each loaded onto distinct factors, suggesting that they measure unique experiences. Burden did, however, fully mediate the relation between service members' distress and spouses' distress. Levels of burden were directly related to spouses' neuroticism and emotionfocused coping, and marginally related to lower levels of self-efficacy and perceived support from partners, although none of these factors were significant in a regression of burden that included service members' distress. Finally, problem-focused coping moderated the relation between service members' distress and spouses' burden, with the association weakening as spouses endorsed higher amounts of these coping processes. These results suggest that spouses' burden is primarily related to the degree of distress in service members, but the promotion of adaptive coping styles in spouses may help mitigate this link.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Veterans; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Afghan War; Iraq War
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name MS
Language eng
Relation is Version of Digital reproduction of "Caregiver burden in spouses of National Guard/Reserve service members deployed during Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom" J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections HQ5.5 2009 .C37
Rights Management © Catherine M. Caska
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 50,050 bytes
Identifier us-etd2,117822
Source Original: University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections
Conversion Specifications Original scanned on Epson GT-30000 as 400 dpi to pdf using ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Professional Edition
ARK ark:/87278/s6tm7rpw
Setname ir_etd
ID 193192
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6tm7rpw
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