Coping Styles, Stress Tolerance, and Wellbeing and their Correlations in the Women Spouses of the Mentally Ill

BACKGROUND: In the Indian cultural scenario, the wife is the primary caregiver when the husband falls mentally sick. The caregiver burden and the gender issues make women more vulnerable to this particular situation. This study attempts to take a closer look at the coping styles, stress tolerance, and wellbeing of such a population and the interplay of the above variables. AIM: This study aims to determine correlations between coping styles, stress tolerance, and wllbeing of the women spouses of the mentally ill. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A passive observational design has been used. The tools used in this study are Life Change Event Inventory, AECOM Coping Scale Questionnaire, and PGI Well being scale. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Pearson's product moment correlation is used to study the relationship between the variables. RESULT AND CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that the wives of mentally ill tend to use certain coping styles more than others and this preference lowers the stress experienced and enhance their sense of well being. It is also concluded that women with mentally ill spouses could be hardier due to the sociocultural expectations imposed on them where care giving of their mentally sick husbands are concerned.