Coping with Multiple Sclerosis: Considerations and Interventions

Caring for people with early and advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: how do family carers cope?

“…Similarly, attending a self‐group has been found to significantly reduce burden and lead to a greater comprehension of how to cope with the care‐giving role (Sörensen et al . , McNulty ). Raising awareness of the availability of respite services is therefore fundamental, and intervention studies, based on the development of support groups targeted at the specific context of COPD, are needed.…”

“…This result aligns with the coping literature where there is relative consensus that problem‐focussed efforts, targeted directly at managing stressful or problematic events, such as chronic illness, are regarded as adaptive (Livneh & Martz ) and associated with well‐being (Dupuis et al . , McNulty ).…”

“…Efforts involving cognitive reframing, such as ‘realising that no one is to blame’ and ‘looking for the positive things’ were significantly more applied by family carers of people with advanced COPD, who were also engaged in more care‐giving tasks and probably more aware of the progressive and incapacitating nature of this chronic disease. Cognitive reframing is a mean of reconceptualising a problem, from something that is considered impossible to solve into something for which other coping strategies may be helpful (McNulty ). Positive reframing involves individual's efforts to uncover the positive aspects of a situation, viewing it as an opportunity for further growth, and has been related to better adjustment within the context of chronic disease, namely multiple sclerosis (McNulty ).…”

“…Cognitive reframing is a mean of reconceptualising a problem, from something that is considered impossible to solve into something for which other coping strategies may be helpful (McNulty ). Positive reframing involves individual's efforts to uncover the positive aspects of a situation, viewing it as an opportunity for further growth, and has been related to better adjustment within the context of chronic disease, namely multiple sclerosis (McNulty ). Thus, helping carers to develop this type of coping could be beneficial particularly under circumstances that cannot be changed like progressive chronic diseases such as COPD.…”

“…Such knowledge is relevant to the planning of formal support interventions, which are more effective when available throughout the care‐giving trajectory and targeted at the specific demands of each grade in the disease process (Hanson et al . , McNulty ). Furthermore, the fact that carers of people with advanced COPD presented poorer subjective mental health suggests the limitations of individual coping strategies and the need for adequate formal support.…”