The impact of Great Barrier Reef Pilotage work on wives and families

Results and Discussion

6.0 Marital Satisfaction – the Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale

The quality of interpersonal relationships and particularly those with a spouse or partner can influence quality of life and the ways in which people cope with their lives. The Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale was designed to assess the quality of a relationship for both married and cohabiting couples. The item content and distribution of scores across the seven items are detailed in Table 10. Respondents were asked "How well do the following statements describe the relationship between you and your partner"?

Table 10

Distribution of scores across the seven items comprising the marital satisfaction scale

The distribution of responses to this series of questions was skewed towards the end of the scale indicating satisfaction with the dyadic relationship. Only 2 respondents (6%) believed that things were never going well between themselves and their partner. One respondent (3%) was considering divorce. A further 9% expressed difficulty confiding in their partners. Just over 45% of respondents felt that they ‘got on each others nerves’ at least some of the time. These results suggest that this group of wives/partners experience a high level of marital satisfaction. However, it may also be that people found it difficult to respond to questions such as those which focus on relationships and relationship problems. In contrast to the other aspects of the questionnaire, there were no qualitative comments on the quality of marital relationships.

Stressful interpersonal relationships can affect personal well-being as well as workplace performance. For instance, the results of studies investigating the role of the spousal factor in aviator performance showed that a pilot’s spouse is a key figure in promoting flight safety. A stable marriage with a supportive spouse or partner enables the aviator to perform more reliably and effectively (Cooper & Sloan 1985 ; Karlins et al. 1989). Moreover, the literature from the aviation industry has shown that when a home and away pattern of work exists, there are considerable positive or negative interactions between a pilot’s home life, work situation, work performance and well-being.

6.1 Construction of the Scale

A scale of marital satisfaction was created by summing the scores across the seven items. The scale had a potential range of 10 to 50. The actual scale range was from 17 to 50. The reliability of the scale was determined using Cronbach’s alpha. This was a very acceptable 0.83. Despite the wide usage of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, few firm guidelines as to cutoffs which can be taken to represent marital distress exist. According to Spanier and Filsinger (1983: 164) "given the continuum or possible scores, it is inadvisable to recommend a fixed cutoff point". For the purposes of this study, level of dyadic satisfaction was treated as a dichotomous variable. A scale score of between 10 and 40 was considered to represent a low to moderate level of satisfaction with the relationship. A score between 41 and 50 was considered to indicate a high level of satisfaction. On this basis approximately 46% of the sample reported a moderate to low level of satisfaction with their relationship. Three respondents (9%) reported a very low level of satisfaction with their relationship scoring less that 30 on this measure of satisfaction.

7.0 SOCIAL SUPPORT

Considerable evidence now indicates the importance of social support to quality of life and to the ways in which individuals cope with stressful situations (Thoits 1995; Vaux 1988; Cohen and Wills 1985). Social support is believed to promote well-being either directly, by promoting well-being regardless of the level of stress the individual is experiencing, or indirectly, by ‘buffering’ or attenuating the stressor. There are two broad categories of social support. These are structural support and functional support (Cohen and Wills 1985). Structural support represents the individual’s level of social integration or social connectedness and is determined by the number of social ties in a person’s social network. Functional support refers to the individuals perception or appraisal of available support (Vaux 1988). Together these two forms of support are believed to promote well-being regardless of the levels of stress experienced. The measure used to assess the level of social support covers four categories of functional support. These are tangible support, affectionate support, positive social interaction and emotional or informational support. In addition a single item provides an estimate of structural support or the perceived size of the social network.

7.1 Structural Support

Respondents were asked to specify the number of close friends or relatives they have whom they can talk to about what is on their mind. The scores on this measure ranged from 1 (one respondent) to 20 or more (one respondent). Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported a close social network of between three and six people.

7.2 Tangible Support

Four items formed the measure of tangible support or practical assistance and focused on times of ill health. The item content and distribution of responses has been presented in the following table. Respondents were asked "How often do you have…?"

Table 11

Distribution of scores across the four items comprising the measure of tangible support

Thirty percent of participants did not believe that they had someone to help them if they were confined to bed. A further third felt that this type of assistance would only be available a ‘little of the time’. Thirty-five percent did not believe that they had someone to prepare meals for them if they were incapacitated, while 38% of respondents did not believe that anyone would help with daily chores if they were sick. The majority of respondents believed that someone would be available to take them to a doctor should they need it.

7.2.1 Construction of the Scale

The scores on this sub-scale were re-scaled to range from 0 to 100 with high scores indicating more support. The actual range of the scale was from 0, with three respondents reported access to no tangible support to 100 (2 respondents). Fifty-three percent of respondents scored 25 or less on this measure suggesting that for this group of respondents there is a lack of access to tangible support during times of ill health. The reliability of the scale as determined by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.95 on the items.

7.3 Affectionate Support

Three items were used to measure this aspect of support; that is the perceived availability of affection. The item content and distribution of responses is described in the following table.

Table 12

Distribution of scores on the three items comprising the measure of affectionate support

The distribution of scores on the items comprising this scale was skewed towards the end of the scale indicating good affectionate support. However, a substantial minority of respondents perceived their levels of affectionate support to be quite low.

7.3.1 Construction of the Scale

The scores on this sub-scale were re-scaled to range from 0 to 100 with high scores indicating more support. The actual range was from 0 (2 respondents) to 100 (five respondents). Forty percent of respondents scored 50 or less on this measure, indicating lower levels of perceived affectionate support. The Cronbach’s alpha measure of reliability for this scale was 0.86.

7.4 Positive Social Interaction

Respondents were asked a total of four items that assessed their levels of perceived positive social interaction. The item content and distribution of scores is detailed in the following table.

Table 13

Distribution of the scores across the four items comprising the measure of positive social interaction

The majority of participants reported having someone to have a good time with; someone to relax with; someone to help them get things off their mind and someone to do something enjoyable with at least some of the time. However, between 30 and 40% of respondents reported little or no positive social interaction. Respondents reported a greater perception of a lack of positive social interaction than was reported for affectionate support. This may indicate an unmet need amongst this group of respondents for increased positive social interaction. Difficulties in planning and involving partners in social events appears to be a common problem in home and away occupations (Rigg & Cosgrove 1994; Foster & Cacioppe 1986 ; Taylor et al. 1985) and may greatly contribute to the level of involvement in social situations in the community by the present wives.

7.4.1 Construction of the Scale

The scores on this sub-scale were re-scaled to range from 0 to 100 with high scores indicating more support. The actual scores ranged from 0 (one respondent) to 100 (3 respondents). Approximately 56% of the sample scored 50 or less on this measure, indicating lower levels of perceived positive social interaction. The Cronbach’s alpha measure of reliability for this scale was 0.96.

7.5 Emotional or Informational Support

Eight items were used to assess levels of emotional or informational support. The item content and distribution of scores is presented in the following table.

Table 14

Distribution of scores for the eight items comprising the measure of emotional or informational support

The majority of respondents (71%) believed that there was someone that they could count on to listen to them at least some of the time. Additionally, most respondents believed that they had access to someone for advice during a crisis (61%); someone who could provide them with information to help them understand a particular situation (64%); someone to confide in (68%); someone to provide wanted advice (59%); someone to provide assistance to deal with personal problems (53%) and someone who was understanding (65%). However, approximately 53% of respondents did not believe that they had access to someone to share their most private thoughts with. The numbers of women reporting a perceived lack of emotional and information support was substantial. The importance of a close confidant for the seafaring wife has been previously reported. Foster & Cacioppe (1986) indicated 80% of wives of Australian seafarers had a close friend in whom they could confide; however these respondents pointed out that unless the person was familiar with the seafaring life, their concerns could sometimes be misunderstood.

The qualitative data provided some insight into the issue of availability of social support. The qualitative comments indicated that those respondents who lived closer to family and relatives reported greater levels of social support than those who have had to move away from family for work purposes. Several respondents considered this dislocation of themselves and their children to be a major form of stress. Family, rather than friends, appeared to be the most important source of social support for a number of women. However at least one women who had relocated to another State reported that good friends and neighbours were important sources of support. Telephone contact was commonly used by those respondents who were geographically distanced from family support to maintain this link.

7.5.1 Construction of the Scale

The scores on this sub-scale were re-scaled to range from 0 to 100 with high scores indicating more support. The actual scores on this scale ranged from 0 (one respondent) to 100 (four respondents). Approximately 50% of respondents scored 50 or less on this measure. The Cronbach’s alpha measure of reliability was 0.98 for this scale.

8.0 GENERAL HEALTH

The responses to two global items assessing general health are described in the following table.

Table 15

Distribution of the scores for the two items assessing the perceived health of respondents

The majority of respondents believed that their general health and overall physical fitness was either excellent or good. Nine respondents were receiving treatment for a health related problem at the time of completing the questionnaire. One respondent reported a serious, potentially life-threatening disorder.

9.0 PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

The point prevalence for major depression in the adult population assessed across approximately 20 studies which have been conducted since 1980 was approximately 3 per cent (Wittchen et al. 1994). The reported six month to one year prevalence rate was approximately 6 per cent. The range across studies was from 2.6 per cent to 9.8 per cent. Prevalence rates for anxiety disorders in the adult population have been estimated at between 7 per cent and 15 per cent (Freedman 1984).

9.1 Anxiety

Table 16 presents the item content and distribution of scores for the seven items included in the DSSI measure of anxiety. Respondents were asked to read each item and tick the box which most closely represented how they had been feeling in the last week.

Previous studies have reported the occurrence of symptoms of anxiety and depression. Additionally, these symptoms are associated with significantly lower levels of well-being in the partners/wives of men who have a home and away lifestyle typical of Great Barrier Reef pilots (Morrice & Taylor 1978; Taylor et al. 1985 Rigg & Cosgrove 1994). Symptoms of anxiety and depression have also been used to classify sufferers of ‘Intermittent Husband Syndrome’ (Morrice & Taylor 1978; Taylor et al. 1985; Rigg & Cosgrove 1994). In this study two brief self-report measures were used to assess the level of psychological well-being of the respondents. These were the DSSI (Foulds & Bedford 1978) seven item measures of anxiety and depression.

Table 16

Distribution of scores for the seven items comprising the DSSI measure of anxiety

Missing values *n=1; ** n=2.

The scores for all items were skewed towards the end of the scale indicating normality. However, a small number of respondents scored towards the negative end of the scale.

A response of either 3, 4, or 5 (that is, a report of experiencing a symptom, some, most or all of the time) to any item was considered equivalent to experiencing a particular symptom. On this basis, the most frequently occurring symptoms of anxiety included ‘worrying about every little thing’ (44%) ‘having a pain or tense feeling in the neck or head’ (32%) and ‘being kept awake at night due to worry’ (23%). Previous work examining the psychosocial effects of frequent partings on off-shore wives revealed that these wives experienced greater levels of anxiety than a comparative group of onshore wives. However, the increased anxiety occurred only while their husband was off shore (Taylor et al. 1985. Additionally, the levels of anxiety associated with partings and reunions tended to decrease as wives became more ‘experienced’; that is, had been with their partner for longer periods of time (Taylor et al. 1985).

9.1.1 Construction of the Scale

The scale was scored on a five point scale. A response of ‘all the time’ received a score of 5 and a response of ‘never’ received a score of 1. A high score indicated higher levels of anxiety. The measure was constructed by combining categories 1 and 2 (no symptoms) and 3, 4, 5 (experiencing a symptom). Those respondents who reported experiencing a symptom scored 1 and those who did not scored 0. The summed measure had a potential range of 0 to 7; the actual scores ranged from 0 (16 respondents) to 5 (two respondents). Five respondents or 14 per cent of the sample reported experiencing 4 or more symptoms and can be considered to be experiencing high levels of anxiety.

9.2 Depression

Table 17 presents the item content and distribution of scores for the seven items included in the DSSI measure of anxiety.

Table 17

Distribution of scores on the seven items comprising the DSSI measure of depression

Missing values * n=1.

The distribution of scores on this measure of depression was skewed towards the end of the scale indicating normality. However, a small number of respondents scored towards the negative end of the scale. By combining responses where respondents have reported the experience of a symptom "all", "most" or "some of the time", the most frequently occurring symptoms of depression included feeling ‘so miserable that I have difficulty sleeping’ (26%); feeling ‘depressed’ (23%) and feeling that ‘the future seems hopeless’ (20%).

9.2.1 Construction of the Scale

The scale was scored on a five point scale. A response of ‘all the time’ received a score of 5 and a response of ‘never’ received a score of 1. A high score indicated higher levels of anxiety. The measure was constructed by combining categories 1 and 2 (no symptoms) and 3, 4, 5 (experiencing a symptom). Those respondents who reported experiencing a symptom scored 1 and those who did not scored 0. The summed measure had a potential range of 0 to 7; the actual scores ranged from 0 (22 respondents) to 6 (one respondent). Three respondents, or approximately 9% of the sample reported experiencing 4 or more symptoms and can be considered to be experiencing depression. By way of comparison, the point prevalence of major depression in the adult population across approximately 20 studies conducted since 1980 was approximately 3% (Wittchen et al. 1994).

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