codependency and caretakers

This study developed and evaluated the Nurse Codependency Questionnaire (NCQ) and generated initial estimates of the stability and internal consistency of responses for the questionnaire. An initial pool of 95 items, reflective of four domains of codependency, was generated from the codependency literature using a domain-referenced approach. Seven expert judges from the nursing and codependency fields calculated the content validity index (CVI) as > .80. Items were critiqued for relevance, clarity, and predicted direction of each item's correlation with the total codependency score...

It is purported in the literature that individuals who demonstrate co-dependent traits (consistently taking responsibility for others to the point of neglecting onself) enter the nursing profession to fulfill pathological needs and that nursing encourages co-dependent behaviour through its focus on "caring." This study was undertaken to determine whether nursing students have higher co-dependency scores than students in other programs. Data were collected through a questionnaire. A continuum-based Co-dependency Index was constructed with a Caring and Caretaking Sub-index to allow for more accurate measurement of co-dependency traits...

This study examined the role of codependency in the relationship between stressful events and the development of eating disorders. Ninety-five undergraduate women completed the Codependency Assessment, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Differentiation of Self Scale, and an open-ended questionnaire asking about stressful experiences, including relationships with alcoholic family members. Results supported the hypothesis that women who reported experience with an alcoholic significant other or a chronic stressful situation exhibited higher levels of eating disordered behavior...

Practicing nurses can benefit by learning to differentiate their caretaking (potentially destructive) from their caregiving (constructive) behaviors, and by learning strategies to facilitate caregiving. A new simulation/game was developed to assist nurses to recognize codependent behaviors in themselves and others and to practice some alternative patterns of behavior. This team-based simulation/game, "The Climb," uses the metaphor of a mountain-climbing expedition. The experiences of the journey promote dynamic insights into the consequences of codependency in the professional and personal lives of the nurse...

Intensive interviews with women married to alcoholics reveal a taken-for-granted use of the term "codependent" to describe the spouses of alcoholics, despite considerable definitional ambiguity as to what codependency is. Although most of the wives agreed that codependency involves caretaking behavior and exists by virtue of their association with an alcoholic, they disagreed widely as to its impact on the self, its locus as personal or social, its disease status, its longevity, and whether or not it is distinctive to alcohol-complicated marriages...