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Maintaining Regular Activities

Anchoring Vignettes for Regular Activities

Questions:

While [name of person/you] was caring for [person], how much of a problem was it for [name of person/you] to maintain [his/her/your] regular activities, including work, family and community life?

Response categories:

  1. No problem
  2. Mild problem
  3. Moderate
  4. Serious
  5. Extreme

Vignettes:

  1. [Mariko] lives in a small town. Her brother who has mental problems, lives with her. Her brother doesn't get out of the house. [Mariko] has to do all the shopping and won't let him cook or clean because she's afraid that he will hurt himself, so she can not go out like she used to. Since her brother lives with her, Mariko has lost some of her friends because she doesn't have time to see them.

  2. Fatima broke her leg and has been released early from the hospital. She won't be able to take care of her family for two weeks. Her husband, [Ali], had to take two weeks off from work.

  3. [Juanita] has two children. One is in perfect health, the other one needs to be under surveillance all the time. She raises the children by herself but her little town has a service that sends someone for 8 hours a day. She can get 8 hours sleep and do her normal 8 hours a day job as a assistant pharmacist but she can not go out at night or on the weekend because the service does not send someone then.

  4. [Alexander] is very old. He has emphysema (which means he can't breathe properly) and can not walk more than 5 minutes without having to sit down. His wife, Anastasia, is now blind and doesn't move around the house by herself. So Alexander has to do the cooking and help guide her wherever she wants to go. A service comes to pick up Alexander every week so he can do the shopping and stop for an hour at his best friend's place. During that time, a person from the same service stays at home with Anastasia and cleans the apartment.

  5. [Aryana] used to be pretty active in her community until she had to look after her husband, Indu, who had a stroke. Since he could not be left alone, she had to tend to him all the time. She requested assistance from the health services. It was possible for them to send a nurse twice a week to help [Aryana] but this meant her husband could only bath twice a week.

  6. [Raul and Julia's] son is in a wheelchair. He can not eat by himself or wash himself. He is sixteen and weights 80 kilos. Both parents need to be there to lift him from his chair. [Raul] has to miss work to take his son to see the doctor every month and Julia can not get out of the house very often.

  7. Patricia has been bed ridden for the last three years. She lives with her daughter, [Michelle], who has two young children, and takes care of her. [Michelle] has asked the state for some nursing support to help her but was refused. Because her mother needs attention all the time and can not be left alone, [Michelle] has no time to participate in her children's play activities or do other things for herself.