Partners in adversity: I. Study design and context.

This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of three groups of married women undertaken in Edinburgh. Each study group was identified through their common experience of a particular stressful situation. Recruitment to the two principal study groups required that a marital partner had either recently died or had recently experienced a myocardial infarction (MI). The third group consisted of those women recently entering a Women's Aid refuge. Interviews were completed with 64 bereaved women, 143 women shortly following their partner's MI and 32 women entering a refuge. Where possible, follow-up interviews were undertaken about three months following the first interview. Detailed assessments were made of the 'target' stressful experiences, of any others that had occurred, and of the course and nature of the respondent's mental health during the study period. Additional assessments included measures of style of coping and of the support resources available and utilized. This report presents details of the design and methodology of the study and of the respondents' experiences of the specific stressors that recruited them to the study. It also provides the background to an examination and analysis of the sequencing of adverse experiences reported in the companion paper.