Caregiver Marital Satisfaction when a Spouse has Multiple Sclerosis
The current study examines marital satisfaction from the perspective of a well spouse who is responsible for caregiving a spouse with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Forty spouses of individuals with MS completed questionnaires. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship of love, satisfaction with physical intimacy, communication, and caregiver burden to marital satisfaction. Results indicated that love and communication were significantly positively related to marital satisfaction, and caregiver burden was significantly negatively related to marital satisfaction. Satisfaction with physical intimacy was not significantly related to marital satisfaction with this sample of caregiver spouses. Implications for counselors were discussed.