Coping Strategies and Perceived Social Support in Wives of Persons with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29120/ijpsw.2017.v8.i1.12Abstract
Background: In India alcohol is the most commonly used substance of abuse. The effect of alcoholism in husbands mostly leads to disturbances in marital life.These effects may directly or indirectly drain out caregivers of substance abusers. One of the most affected among caregivers are the marital partners. In other words it is the wives of substance abusing husband who are the victims. Coping mechanisms are used by the wives to handle the stressful situation has a vital role in reducing psychological difficulties. In case of wives with alcohol dependent husbands, the social support is a buffer for crisis periods. Aim of the study: The study is aimed to enquire the coping strategies and perceived social support of the wives of persons with alcohol dependence syndrome. Material and methods: A total 30 wives of persons with alcohol dependence syndrome according to ICD-10 were taken as the sample using purposive sample collection. Socio-demographic profile was assessed through semi-structured questionnaire while coping strategies was assessed through Ways of Coping Scale (1986) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (1988) was applied to assess the perceived social support after taking their informed consent. Data analysis was done using SPSS for descriptive statistics. Results: The result shows that varied types of coping strategies were used by wives of persons with alcohol dependence. In contrast the previous studies suggest use of emotional focused or escape avoidance coping. This study suggests that adaptive copings such as positive reappraisal, seeking social support and problem solving were used in comparison to escape avoidance. In contrast to previous studies perceived social support was found to be high in this study group. Conclusion: It is well known fact now that coping strategies plays a major role in dealing with stressful life situations and perceived social support also have positive impact over health. Finding from this study suggests that any psychosocial intervention designed for this group must consider these facts and findings. Eventually these findings from the study can be used to help in enhancing the wellbeing of wives of alcohol dependents.
Key words: Alcohol Dependence, coping strategies, perceived social support
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