Better together: Relationship quality and mental health among cardiac patients and spouses

Abstract

Reductions in marital relationship quality are pervasive post‐cardiac event. It is not yet understood how relationship quality is linked to mental health outcomes in couples where one member has established cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the interdependence within dyads is seldom measured. This research is required as psychological distress has been independently linked to CVD incidence, morbidity, and mortality. This study assessed associations of relationship quality with depression and anxiety among patients with CVD and their spouses. Participants completed questionnaires measuring four dimensions of relationship quality and mental health. Data were analyzed using an Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model with hierarchical moderation analyses. 181 dyads (N = 362 participants) comprised the study sample. Most patients had coronary artery disease (66.3%) and 25.9% were female. Patients reported higher relationship satisfaction and fewer anxiety symptoms than did spouses. Patients and spouses with high dyadic consensus and affectional expression reported fewer mental health symptoms, but only when the other partner also perceived high levels of consensus and affectional expression in the relationship. Patients and spouses with low dyadic cohesion reported worse mental health symptoms (actor effects), but those effects were no longer significant when both the patient and the spouse appraised the relationship as having high levels of dyadic cohesion. Taken together, relationship quality is linked to mental health symptoms in patients with CVD and their spouses. Longitudinal and experimental studies are now warranted to further substantiate the cross‐sectional findings of this study.

Recognizing and Appreciating the Partner’s Support Protects Relationship Satisfaction during Cardiac Illness

“…Exploring the RS is important because it is a key component of life satisfaction [32], strongly associated with individual psychological and physical well-being [33,34]. Furthermore, relationship quality and stability are considered protective factors both for the cardiac patient in terms of survival [35,36] and mental health [37] and also for the caregiver's psychological well-being [37,38]. In fact, in the cardiac disease context, it is important to consider not only the caregiver as a provider of cure and the patient as a receiver but also their specific contribution to the other and to the relationship more generally because, despite the presence of a cardiac illness, the patient and the caregiver continue to be partners with relational needs, for example, closeness and intimacy [8,39,40].…”