The purpose of this study is to describe the family coping with chronic illness by the family member's definition of the event, the pile-up of family stressors and strains, and the severity of illness. One hundred seventy nine family members of
chronic
illness patients responded a questionnaire.
Family coping was measured with the family crisis oriented personal evaluation scales, a twenty eight item 5-point Likert scale. The pile-up of family stressors was measured with the family inventory of life events, a twenty five item inventory
stressors. Family perception of the illness was measured with the family member definition of chronic illness scale, a fourteen item measure developed for the study. Severity of chronic illness was determined using stage of chronic illness
process
and
cure. The patient's family role was elicited on the demographic questionnaire.
Multiple regression analysis, t-test, two-way ANOVA, ANOVA and Canonical correlation were used to answer the research questions. When each variable was relationship, the definition of the event and family inventory of life event wer predictor for
family
coping (R=0.72, Wilk's Lambda p=0.0001 and f=1.32, p=0.013). When the family member's perception of the chronic illness was used a bivariate relationship, it became a significant family coping as well(F=3.52, p=0.0001). The degree of the family
coping
by family perception of chronic illness was relatively high.
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