Coherence of mind in daughter caregivers of mothers with dementia: Links with their mothers' joy and relatedness on reunion in a strange situation

Abstract

This paper reports on a small sample (n = 17) of daughter caregivers of mothers with dementia who were interviewed with the Adult Attachment Interview, while their mothers stayed in an adjoining university room. Daughters were then reunited with their mothers, after a one-hour separation. Joyful and related ‘secure’ maternal behaviors, including proximity seeking, contact maintaining and overall responsiveness, were positively correlated with coherence of mind, and coherence of transcript ratings derived from the daughters' AAIs. Controlling for the severity of dementia in the mothers did not alter the power of these associations. Discussion addresses the lifelong significance of reunion behavior, the survival of ‘secure’ attachment behavior even into the late stages of dementia, and the clinical relevance of the Adult Attachment Interview.