Carers' Coping with Post-Onset Personality and Physical Changes in Patients with Neurological Disorders

Coping plays an important role in a person's adjustment to stress. This study examined carers' coping with post-onset personality and physical changes in patients with neurological disorders. 4-8 months post-onset 112 carers completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988), both in relation to personality and physical changes in patients. It was found that carers employed a variety of strategies to cope with personality changes compared to physical changes. Carers depended more on emotion-focused strategies while coping with personality changes, whereas more problem-focused strategies were used to cope with physical changes. It was concluded that the way a carer copes depends on the type of post-onset changes manifested by a patient.