Abstract

CUELLAR FLORES, Isabel  and  SANCHEZ LOPEZ, M.ª Pilar. Psychological Adaptation in Caregivers of Dependent Relatives. Clínica y Salud [online]. 2012, vol.23, n.2, pp.141-152. ISSN 2174-0550.

Caring for a dependent relative is a stressful situation that can put the psychological health of the caregiver at risk, and which requires a level of psychological adaptation. We aimed to investigate whether adaptation to the caregiving situation can imply the existence of differential personality styles, independently of the specific characteristics of the care situation; and, secondly, if the differences in psychological health among caregivers are related to specific profiles of personality. This study involved 105 caregivers (average of age = 56.06, SD = 15.97) of dependent relatives, mainly elderly people, who completed Millon's Inventory of Personality Styles and the GHQ-12. Altogether, the results show the existence of preferred psychological styles in this group of caregivers (Other-Nurturing, Realistic/Sensing, Feeling-Guided, Submissive/Yielding and Cooperative/Agreeing). The caregivers with worse mental health scored lower in the Pleasure-Enhancing, Externally Focused, Gregarious-Outgoing, Confident-Asserting and Dominant-Controlling scales, and higher in Pain-Avoiding, Internally Focused, Asocial-Withdrawing and Anxious-Hesitating.

Keywords : caregiver; personality styles; mental health.

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