INTRODUCTION:

Alcoholism is one of the major evil existing in the society which hampers the normal functioning of the family. They are victims of addiction who do not use chemicals but are victimized by the drug. They are victims struggling desperately to some of their problems.

Alcoholism is a wide and increasing social and physical problem in the world. The Number of the wives of Alcoholic is getting increased in the population of India. Alcoholism is often termed the family illness, referring to the tremendous impact an active alcoholic has on those around him.

The wives of Alcoholics are having low quality of life and also interested in family counselling not only stress, the wives of Alcoholics faces the problem of verbal abuse, communication difficulties, low-self esteem which affects the behaviour and personality of the wives of Alcoholics. Due to lower marital adjustments their quality of life is not satisfaction to them¹

In India 85% of men who are violent toward their wives were frequently or daily users of alcohol. More than half of the abusive incidents were under the influence of alcohol. More than half of the abusive incidents were under the influence of alcohol.²

According to M. Nanjunda Swamy (2013)³ on stress, coping strategies and domestic violence in wives of alcohol dependent individual, study reveal that wives of alcohol dependent patient had high level of perceived stress. Avoidance, discard fearful withdrawal and sexual withdrawal were the most common coping components identified. Domestic violence was experience by 90% women mostly intellectual (69%), emotional (59%), social (58%), physical (47%), economic (40%) and sexual violence (27%). Domestic violence was found to increase the stress and influence the coping styles of these women.

The impact of alcohol dependence on marital functioning and the psychosocial development of family members are challenging problem to research. At present health professional attention is mainly on alcoholics where the actual sufferers are their family members especially the wives. This made the investigator to study about the stress and level of coping strategies among the wives of alcoholics. This study in this area will help to plan and teach effective cognitive and behavioural strategies for the target population,, help the wives of alcoholic to analyze their stress and their coping behaviour.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A study to assess the level of stress and coping strategies among wives of alcoholics at selected settings, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the level of stress among the wives of alcoholic.

2. To assess the level of coping strategies among the wives of alcoholics.

3. The correlate the level of stress and coping strategies among wives of alcoholics.

4. To associate the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholic with their demographic variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

H₁: There is a significant relationship between the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholics.

H₂: There is a significant association with the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholics with their demographic variables.

METHODOLOGY:

Research Approach

Descriptive Survey Approach

Research Design

Descriptive correlational design

Setting

The study was conducted at Mettu Street, Palliarasan Street, Kujjinagar Street, Kilpauk, Chennai.

Population

Population of the study comprises of wives of alcoholics between the age of 18 to 60 yrs.

Sample

Wives of alcoholic who fulfills the inclusive criteria.

Sample Size

70 wives of alcoholic.

Sampling Technique

Non probability convenient sampling technique was used to select the samples.

Criteria for sample selection

Inclusive Criteria

1. Wives of alcoholic between the 18 to 60 yrs of age.

2. Wives of alcoholic who are willing to participate in the study.

3. Those who can understand and speak Tamil.

Exclusive Criteria

1. Wives of alcoholic who suffer from psychiatric illness are excluded.

Development and description of the tool

Section A:

It consists of demographic variables such as age, religion, education status, occupation, monthly income in rupees, duration of marital life, duration of husband alcoholic use, no. of children, type of family and place of residence.

Section B:

4 point rating scale to assess the perceived stress for wives of alcohol was prepared which contain 30 items with responses as usually, sometimes, rarely and never. The perceived stress of wives were grades a mild, moderate and severe dependence.

Section C:

A standardized 5 point rating scale on coping strategies among the wives of alcoholic by Dr. Jamuna and Dr. Ramamurthy was used. The coping scores were graded into maladaptive, average and adaptive.

Procedure for data collection

The data collection was done for 2 weeks period. After obtaining informed consent and willing from the study participants the study was conducted at Kilpauk. The total of 70 samples was interviewed and data was collected.

Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation was used to assess the level of stress and coping strategies.

Inferential statistics such as chi-square was used to associate the level of stress and coping strategies of the wives of alcoholic with their demographic variables.

Pearson correlation was used to correlate between the level of stress and the coping strategies.

RESULT:

Section – A:

Most 28(40%) wives of alcoholic were in the age group of 40 – 50 years. Majority 62(68%) were belonging to Hindu religion, with regard to education status 28(40%) were illiterates. With regard to the occupation of wives of alcoholic 30(50%) were coolie and mostly 46(65.75%) monthly income of family ranges from 7442 to 11161, with respect to their duration of marital life majority 40(60%) were above 10 yrs of married life. With respect to duration of husband alcoholic use 27(38.53%) were more than 10 yrs and with regard to no. of children 38(54.29%) had 2 – 3 children in the family and mostly 61(87.14%) were joint family.

This study finding is supported by the study conducted by Ms. Ramya (2013)⁴ study revealed that majority of subjects belonged to the age group of >40 years (60%), educated till 10th standard (83.3%), were unemployed, (63.3%) family income <1500/month (56.8%), belonged to Hindu religion (56.8%), duration of alcoholism for >16 years (60%). Majority of wives of alcoholics had severe psychological (33.3%) and social (46.4%) problems. Knowledge gained from this study can be utilized to provide awareness about managing their partner’s unhealthy habit and coping strategies.

Section – B:

With distribution of the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholic with respect to the level of stress among the wives of alcoholic majority 30(42.86%) had moderate stress, 24(34.29%) had mild stress and 16(22.86%) had severe stress.

With regard to the coping strategies among the wives of alcohol 30(42.86%) had average coping, 24(34.29%) had maladaptive coping, 16(22.86%) had adaptive coping strategies.

The study finding is supported with the study conducted by S. Revathi (2009) ⁴majority of the wives of alcoholic used positive reappraisal (83.5%) painful problem solving coping (82.5%), self controlling 964%) and seeking social support coping moderately 58.5% to cope up with the stressful situation.

Section – C:

To correlate the level of stress and coping among the wives of alcoholic.

The findings revealed that the correlation between the level of stress and coping among the wives of alcoholic

Table

N = 70

Variables

Mean

S.D

‘r’ value

Stress

77.20

8.44

r = 0.312**

p = 0.009, S

Coping

54.66

8.46

**p<0.01, S – Significant

The obtained coefficient of correlation r = 0.312 was positive, there was significant correlation between the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholic at p<0.01 level. Hence the research hypothesis H₁ stated that “there is a significant relationship between the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholics” was accepted.

Section – D:

Association of level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholic with their demographic variables.

With respect to the no. of children and place of residence, there was a significant association with the level of stress at p<0.05 and p<0.001 level respectively. Hence the research hypothesis H² that stated earlier that “there is a significant association with the level of stress and coping strategies among the wives of alcoholics with their demographic variables” was accepted.

CONCLUSION:

Study revealed that the wives of alcoholic 30(42.86%) had moderate level of stress and 30(42.86%) had average coping strategies. There is a positive correlation between stress and the coping strategies of wives of alcoholic.

The finding of the study will help the community psychiatric nurse to identify, various coping strategies adopted by wives and help to overcome the stress by perceiving the stressful situation as manageable, challenging and not threatening.

REFRENCE:

1. Dr. K. Parthasarathy. Psychosocial Problems of the Wives of Alcoholics. International Journal Scientific Research: 2(5):2013:575

2. Alcohol related harm, a face sheet. Available at www.indianalcoholic policy http://www.addictionindia.org/ images-ttkh/alcohol-related-harm-in-india-a-fact-sheet.pdf

3. M. Nanjundaswamy P. A. A study to assess the stress, copying strategies and domestic violence in wives of alcoholic dependent individual. European Psychiatry:20(1):2013:1

4. Ms. Ramya K.R. Psychosocial problems of wives of alcoholics. Asian Journal of Nursing Education of Research: 3(01): Jan-Mar 2013 :29

5. S. Revathi. How women cope with Alcoholic husband. The Nursing Journal of India :4 April 2009:1-5

Received on 05.11.2013 Modified on 10.11.2013

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research 1(1): Oct.- Dec., 2013; Page 12-14