When a romantic partner has a spinal cord injury: Caregiving tasks and resilience as moderators of support quality on psychosocial distress and relational closeness

Abstract

Using a sample of 312 people in a romantic relationship with a partner who has a spinal cord injury (SCI), this study examined the separate and combined effects of caregiving tasks, resilience, and received support on the participant’s level of psychosocial distress. We also tested whether such distress might mediate the effect of the predictors on romantic relationship closeness. Results supported the beneficial effects of both resilience and receiving high-quality support, although the timing of the injury moderated these effects. Injuries sustained after relationship initiation particularly threaten well-being and closeness and, along with the burden of caregiving tasks, alter the extent to which received support and resilience are associated with health and relationship benefits. These results suggest that support providers should be sensitive to the context of the SCI and, for scholars, indicate the importance of further theorizing context in the theory of resilience and relational load.

Towards conceptual convergence: A systematic review of psychological resilience in family caregivers of persons living with chronic neurological conditions

“…Many (n = 13, 26%) studies referred to the significance of internal and external resources, protective factors, and relational and situational contexts in facilitating resilience development. 38,48,[52][53][54][55]59,65,67,74,78,82,92 For instance, self-compassion was an internal resource conceptually linked to resilience. 54 Beyond these commonalities, researchers differed in terms of whether they defined resilience as a multidimensional process or a personality trait.…”

“…On one side of this discordance, some studies (n = 8, 16%) used language that illustrated resilience as a personal quality, skill or attribute enabling caregivers to adapt in the experience of hardship. 49,55,64,67,70,76,78,92 Comparably, resilience was described in articles (n = 7, 14%) as an individual's ability or capacity to adjust successfully and maintain normal functioning despite adverse trauma, 63,65,73,79,80,88,89 alluding to the belief that resilience is a fixed competence. In fact, the main aim of one study was to test the hypothesis that caregiver resilience is a personality trait, after which it was concluded that resilience is, indeed, an individual characteristic.…”

“…38,46,[48][49][50][52][53][54][55]62,68,69,71,74,77,84,86,91 Some (n = 7, 14%) authors used a more mixed model of resilience, presenting the concept of resilience as a hybrid of both a personality characteristic and an evolving process. 58,64,67,73,78,87,92…”

“…Some studies (n = 12, 24%) specified the use of a specific resilience theory or framework. 19,25,38,52,53,67,76,[79][80][81]83,86 Of the frameworks explicitly included, the Ecological Resilience Framework 31 applied to caregivers was most common and incorporated into four studies (8%). 25,38,52,53 Two sets of original resilience theorists were frequently accredited as the primary source of authors' understanding and characterization of resilience.…”

Transición saludable a la discapacidad de la persona adulta con lesión medular

“…La persona con LM sufre una serie de cambios significativos a partir de que es adquirida esta discapacidad, la literatura reporta problemas de salud mental como la depresión, se encuentra asociada también a la desintegración familiar 4 . Otra situación importante en las que la persona con LM se tiene que enfrentar, es a los altos costos en materia de salud, incluyendo los costos financieros y los relacionados con la carga de la enfermedad 5 .…”