title: Alzheimer's aggression: influences on caregiver coping and resilience.
abstract: This study assessed impact of Alzheimer's patients' aggressive behavior (AD aggression) on caregiver coping strategies (task-, emotion-, and avoidance-focused) and caregiver resilience, and examined whether coping strategy moderated the AD aggression-caregiver resilience relationship. Informal caregivers across Louisiana (N = 419) completed surveys with measures of demographics, AD aggression, caregiver coping strategies, and caregiver resilience. Task-focused coping positively related to resilience. Aggression negatively predicted caregiver resilience. Emotion- and avoidance-focused coping strategies separately interacted with aggression and increased its negative relationship to caregiver resilience. Task-focused coping showed no moderation. Implications for social work professionals are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. swilks@lsu.edu
authors.forename: Scott E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Wilks
authors.forename: Kristina G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: Heather R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Gough
authors.forename: Wanda J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Spurlock
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012947:Social Work / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires