Kathleen Chwalisz

Multidimensional Assessment of Chronic Low Back Pain: Predicting Treatment Outcomes

This study explored responses of chronic low back pain patients to treatment for different types of patients (“dysfunctional,” “interpersonally distressed,” and “minimizer/adaptive coper”), as classified using the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI). In addition, changes in MPI scores during treatment were examined separately for each patient type. Finally, this study explored the relationships between changes in MPI scores and physical improvement. Between-group differences in improvement were significant, with “dysfunctional” patients showing the most improvement on several scales. MPI scales that best predicted physical improvement differed according to patient type. Implications for treatment of low back pain patients are suggested, based upon differential reactions to treatment and different predictors of physical improvement for each patient group.

Tele-help line for caregivers (TLC) : A comprehensive telehealth intervention for rural family caregivers

Abstract This article presents a brief overview of the literature on the unique and diverse needs of rural caregivers and issues related to the design and implementation of caregiving interventions in rural areas. The Tele-Help Line for Caregivers (TLC), a clinical telehealth intervention currently underway for rural caregivers, is described. A case example is presented, demonstrating the benefits of a telehealth intervention for the rural caregiver. Each component of the intervention is described and preliminary outcome data are discussed. Issues related to the applicability of the intervention for a racially/ethnically diverse group of caregivers are also addressed.

Rural Caregiving: A Quilt of Many Different Colors

In this volume, we address the current status and future direction of rural caregiving in four areas: practice, education and training, research, and policy and advocacy. Several key themes in rural caregiving have emerged. These themes are presented and discussed in light of the personal, contextual, economic, environmental, and geographic characteristics that color rural caregiving.

Education, Training, and Support for Rural Caregivers

Enabling individuals to live in the community despite health-care needs is an important and growing public policy concern. Providing services (preventive, support, remedial) for family caregivers is critical to the maintenance of care recipients’ health and well-being. Caregivers need a variety of knowledge and skills in order to be effective and, given the relative lack of services in rural areas, rural caregivers may have an even greater need for skills. Unfortunately, most of the interventions with caregivers have been tested on primarily urban samples. This chapter is an overview of the various education, training, and support needs that should be addressed in rural caregiver interventions and support programs as well as a consideration of the practice, research, training, and advocacy needs of rural caregivers.

Caregiving in Rural America: A Matter of Culture

Family caregiving is a universal experience, an act of love and filial responsibility, but also an essential part of the health and long-term care systems. In 2004, an estimated 44.4 million Americans over the age of 18 years (21% of the U.S. adult population) provided unpaid care for another adult in an estimated 22.9 million households (National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2004). Family or other informal caregiving, although unpaid, has been estimated to have a value to American society of

Causal Attributions, Self-Efficacy Cognitions, and Coping with Stress

257 billion annually (Arno, 2002), at a substantial cost to the individuals providing the care.