Emotional Awareness, Relationship Quality, and Satisfaction in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease and Their Spousal Caregivers

TL;DRAbstract

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship quality and satisfaction in couples, in which one partner had PD, obtaining the perspective of both patients and partner and to examine the impact of alexithymia, empathy, depression, and anxiety on ratings of relationship quality and satisfaction. Fifteen PD patients and partners completed the following scales: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale; Couple Satisfaction Index (CSI); the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale; the Empathy Quotient; the Hamilton Depression and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). We evaluated patients' motor functions by means of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and patients' quality of life by means of the PD Questionnaire. Patients were significantly less satisfied with the relationship than their partners as revealed by CSI (p = 0.031) and they were more depressed (p = 0.003) and anxious (p = 0.015). A negative correlation between measures of relationship quality and satisfaction and alexithymia was found i

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