Paper
Saturday, 22 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Nursing Research Methodological Strategies
Studying Marriage in Chronic Illness
Christine A. Cannon, PhD, RN, Nursing, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
Learning Objective #1: Identify the importance and challenges of studying the marital subsystem in chronic illness.
Learning Objective #2: Describe appropriate individual, interpersonal and dyadic methodologies to study the characteristics, functioning, coping and outcomes of managing chronic illness stress.
Chronic illness affects the lives of both partners, their interpersonal relationship and it remodels their dyadic subsystem over time. How can nurses better understand the complexities of the marriage-illness interactions once the stressors of illness intrude? Taking into consideration pre-illness and even pre-marital variables, it is important to use multiple measures that reflect the appropriate level and unit of analysis. To study marital stress and coping over time, the “Marital Coping in Chronic Illness Model” will be introduced as a framework to conceptualize subsystem characteristics, functioning, coping and outcomes in the proximal and distal contexts of marriage. Multiple examples of qualitative and quantitative methods, measures and analyses will be suggested to assist the learner in understanding the partner, relationship and dyadic levels of coping with chronic illness. Methods used in research conducted with young and middle-aged couples coping with breast cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will be provided as examples.

See more of Nursing Research Methodological Strategies
See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)