Joint Study on Stress and Coping of Chronic Patients and Families

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This is a cross-cultural study on stress and coping of chronically-ill patients and their families in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and the State of Alabama in the Unite States. Demented elders, cancer patients, and chronically-ill children and their families were chosen for the study. Suggestions for excellence of nursing care from different xultural perspectives were expected.Study on demented elders In 1994, a questionnaire for measuring stress and related variables of family caregivers of demented elders was developed with mutual agreement of the researchers from both countries. In 1995,58 family caregivers in each country were interviewed at home using the questionnaire. Comparative analyzes showed the differences in patient's and family caregiver's attributes, and decision making processes for the care of demented elders. Correlates between problem behaviors of demented elders and feelings of burden of caregivers were found in both countries.Study on cancer patients Coping Inventory f … More or Stressful Situations (CISS) was used in both countries. In 1994,103 cancer patients hospitalized for surgery were investigated by using Japanese version of CISS in Chiba city. In 1995,3 months after discharge, they were asked again to fill CISS with some questions at home and 63 replied. To compare the results with healthy population, 300 healthy adults over 20 years of age were investigated using CISS.Data analyzes are continued. Cross-cultural analyzes will be done to make conclusions.Study on chronically-ill children In 1994, parenting stress and family situations of 38 mothers of chronically-ill children aged 3 to 24 months were investigated in each country by using Abidin's Parenting Stress Index (PSI). In Japan 38 mothers of healthy children matched by age, sex, and birth order with chronically-ill children were also investigated. Cross-cultural analyzes revealed that parenting stress of American mothers were significantly higher than Japanese mothers both in Child Domain and Parent Domain. In comparison of Japanese mothers, Child Domain of PSI in mothers of chronically-ill children was significantly higher than those of healthy children. In 1995, the Japanese version of PSI with 78 items and 15 subscales was developed by analyzing the responses of 1114 mothers with healthy children in three prefectures. Less