Coping in aged people with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

The intensity of stress experiences and elaboration of coping essentially depend on individuals' cognitive assessment. Considering the cognitive impairment of elderly persons with Alzheimer's disease (DA), this study aimed to identify their coping style. The Jalowiec Coping Inventory was applied to 60 elderly, 30 in the control group and 30 in the DA group. The results demonstrated a predominance of emotion-focused coping in the DA group and problem-focused coping in the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.124). In addition, it was observed that individuals with better cognitive development in the DA group selected problem-focused coping strategies (p=0.0074). Thus, it seems there is a tendency to select evasive and emotional control strategies in demented elderly with worsened cognitive performance, rather than attempting to solve the problem or minimize its consequences.