Universitat de València (Spain).
Span J Psychol. 2013;16:E3. doi: 10.1017/sjp.2013.4.
Taking care of offspring suffering a long-term illness such as schizophrenia is one of the more stressful life experiences. Care conditions may act as a protective factor in the health of the caregiver. The present study assesses heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and mood responses to psychosocial stress in 16 mothers receiving specialised support for the care of their offspring (CARE+) and in 11 mothers caring for their offspring without support (CARE-). The CARE- group take care of less functional and more symptomatic offspring; and display higher basal, but lower HR, responses after stress than the CARE+ group. No significant group effects were found for BP. For mood states, there were significant decreases in the anger subscale in the CARE- group that were not found in the CARE+ group. HR was related to active and passive coping styles, trait anxiety, and years spent providing care. In the total sample, other significant relationships between cardiovascular responses and life events and personality traits have been found. In sum, the data suggests that specialised support for patients may modulate cardiovascular responses to repeated stress in caregivers.
照顾患有长期疾病（如精神分裂症）的子女是生活中压力较大的经历之一。护理条件可以作为照顾者健康的保护因素。本研究评估了 16 名接受特殊支持的子女照顾者（CARE+）和 11 名没有支持的子女照顾者（CARE-）的心率（HR）、血压（BP）和情绪对心理社会应激的反应。CARE-组照顾的子女功能较差且症状更多；并且在应激后 HR 反应低于 CARE+组。BP 组间无显著差异。对于情绪状态，CARE-组的愤怒分量表显著下降，而 CARE+组则没有。HR 与主动和被动应对方式、特质焦虑和提供护理的年限有关。在总样本中，还发现了心血管反应与生活事件和个性特征之间的其他显著关系。总之，数据表明，为患者提供专门的支持可能会调节照顾者对重复压力的心血管反应。
