Buddhist Coping Predicts Psychological Outcomes Among End-of-Life Caregivers

The objective of this research was to investigate the frequency of Buddhist coping strategies and to explore the relationship between Buddhist coping and indicators of psychological functioning in end-of-life caregivers. Ninety-two caregivers were recruited through contemplative end-of-life caregiver training programs and a Buddhist chaplaincy listserv. Participants completed the Buddhist coping scale, as well as measures of spiritual well-being, burnout, depression, and posttraumatic growth. As hypothesized, end-of-life caregivers who made more use of positive Buddhist coping methods reported lower levels of negative outcomes and higher levels of positive outcomes. On the other hand, caregivers who made greater use of negative Buddhist coping methods reported higher levels of negative outcomes and lower levels of positive outcomes. Specifically, hierarchical regression analyses showed Buddhist coping subscales to account for unique variance in five of seven outcome variables: personal accomplishment (Delta R-2 = .33, p < .01), emotional exhaustion (Delta R-2 = .34, p < .01), depersonalization (Delta R-2 = .30, p < .01), meaning and peace (Delta R-2 = .31, p < .001), and faith (Delta R-2 = .41, p < .001). A principal component factor analysis showed that a two-factor (positive and negative) structure of Buddhist coping was applicable in the current sample. This two-factor solution explained 57.4% of the variance and these positive and negative coping subscales also correlated with psychological outcomes in the hypothesized direction. Future research should further assess the effects of positive and negative Buddhist coping methods, particularly among various subgroups of Buddhist practitioners, as well as among other Buddhist populations.