"The Long Goodbye": Uncertainty Management in Alzheimer's Caregivers Page: 80
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behaviors of all participants engaged in cases of chronic uncertainty (Brashers, 2000), which in
this case includes physicians, AD caregivers, and patients.
To manage uncertainty about the disease and its progression, caregivers engaged in
source discrediting. Both on-site and long-distance caregivers discredited sources of information
as incredible by questioning the validity of the diagnosis, discrediting support groups, and by
discounting speakers for the Alzheimer's Association. Brashers (2007) identified this strategy as
indirect information avoidance. Similarly, Wackerbarth (2002) postulated that inactive AD
caregivers avoid information so as to eschew making decisions. By maintaining the belief that
their loved ones were unlike other persons with the disease, AD caregivers attempted to maintain
uncertainty, which they appraised as more positive than the alternative, continuous degradation
and eventual death.
Over time AD caregivers learned to adapt and live with uncertainty by developing new
goals, routines, and methods of approaching life as caregivers. When describing the AD
caregiver journey, those who eventually adapted to the chronic uncertainty, portrayed past
attempts to reduce, increase, and maintain uncertainty. However, the AD caregivers were able to
adapt as they began to accept the unpredictable circumstances as a necessary part of life
(Brashers, 2007). These findings indicate that caregivers may develop the skills to adapt to
uncertainty over time as the disease continually progresses. Adapting occurs when individuals
accept and learn to manage chronic unease as they change the way they plan for the future
(Brashers, 2007). Over time, AD caregivers may adapt to the uncertain state through the
progression of the disease as their loved one deteriorates. Therefore, attempts to intervene and
assist caregivers in adapting to uncertainty should be made earlier in the process of AD
caregiving. This finding is supported by Kuhn (2003), who explained that the early stages of AD80
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Shaunfield, Sara. "The Long Goodbye": Uncertainty Management in Alzheimer's Caregivers, thesis, May 2011; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67947/m1/87/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .