A feasibility study of videotaping to assess the relationship between distress in Alzheimer's disease caregivers and their interaction style

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an observational study of 15 spouse dyads where the wife was the caregiver and the husband was the care-receiver, diagnosed with 'probable Alzheimer's disease'. Couples were videotaped in their home interacting in an unstructured mealtime, and a structured planning task. Videotaped observations were coded according to the Marital Interaction Coding System (MICS). Summary data from the MICS were correlated with caregiver self-report measures of stress, depression, burden, coping styles, and family environment. A significant correlation was found between the level of conflict in the marriage and the frequency of positive codes observed in the wife during the observations. Several other correlations, while not significant at the 0.05 level, fell in the expected direction. Limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research, are also discussed.