The Marital Adjustment among Spouses living with Persons of Bipolar Affective Disorder and those without

Abstract

Background: Spouses of patients with bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) have a lot of problems with their marital life and social support. Identification of these problems is important to develop strategies to solve them for improving quality of life. Aims: To assess and compare marital adjustment among spouses living with persons of BPAD and those without. Methods: A hospital-based crosssectional descriptive design was used to collect the sample from 100 spouses living with persons of BPAD and those without (50 with BPAD and 50 without BPAD). The sample was selected from the OPD of CIIMHANS, Dewada, Rajnandgoan, Chhattisgarh by using a purposive sampling method. Tools used for data collection included socio-demographic and clinical details to all the spouses of persons with BPAD and normal control assessed by using the Marital Adjustment Questionnaire (Kumar & Rohatgi, 1999). Results: Findings of the study was significant differences in terms of Sexual Adjustment, Social Adjustment, Emotional Adjustment and overall Marital Adjustment among spouses living with persons of BPAD and those without the disorder. Conclusion: This is especially important in light of the fact that sexual, social, and emotional support or adjustment for spouses of persons with bipolar affective disorder is an important aspect of well-being and quality of life for patients and as well as their spouses.