Method: In a study with an independant measures design, a punch biopsy was used to create a small wound on the arms of 13 women who cared for relatives with Alzheimers disease (a very stressful responsibility). A control group of 13 people also took part.
Results: Wound healing took an average of 9 days longer for the carers than those in the control group.
Conclusion: Long-term stress impaires the effectiveness of the immune system to heal wounds.
Evaluation: Sweeny (1995) also found that people caring for relatives with dementia took longer than a control group to heal their wounds. However, for both studies the two groups may have varied in othe ways apart from the stress of being a carer. The effects on the carers could be due to lack of sleep, poor diet etc, and not just the stress they experienced. The study only contained a small amount of participants- for more reliable results it should be repeated with a larger number.
Comments
Report