Dyadic Coping Among Couples with COPD: A Pilot Study

Abstract

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is associated with psychological distress for patients as well as their partners. Dyadic coping can be negatively impacted by stressors. This study's objective was to compare the dyadic coping of couples in which one partner suffered from COPD with healthy couples of the same age. A total of 43 complete couples with COPD and 138 healthy couples participated in this pilot study. The surveys were sent by mail. The response rate of the COPD sample was 24.3%. In order to analyze the effect of gender and role (patient vs. partner) on dyadic coping, linear mixed models were calculated. To analyze the effect of gender and group (COPD group vs. normative comparison group) on dyadic coping, two-way analyses of variance were calculated for independent samples. COPD patients and their partners indicated that the patients received more support and were less able to provide support to their partners. This difference was also evident in comparison with the normative comparison group. In addition, couples with COPD perceived higher levels of negative coping and provided a considerably lower assessment of their positive dyadic coping. The dyadic coping of couples with COPD is unbalanced and more negative when compared to that of healthy couples. Interventions aimed at supporting COPD couples should seek to improve couples' dyadic coping in addition to individual coping strategies.

For better or for worse: a longitudinal study on dyadic coping and quality of life among couples with a partner suffering from COPD

“…However, partners' rating of their own stress communication was rather low. Figures are similar to those reported by partners of patients with COPD in a recent study, which in turn were significantly lower than those reported by a normative comparison group of healthy couples (Meier et al 2012). On the one hand, it may be true that discussion of illness-related problems did not become rampant, with the result that stress communication can be seen as a beneficial dyadic coping strategy, having a positive influence on quality of life or couple satisfaction (Revenson et al 2005).…”

“…As this is in line with cross-sectional results of Meier et al (2011), being able to take over tasks for the partner is an essential aspect of dyadic coping. However, partners' scores for delegated dyadic coping are relatively low compared to figures published in a previous study (Meier et al 2012). Thus, this finding may be subject to limited generalizability.…”

“…Partners' quality of life was positively influenced by their own delegated dyadic coping as well as by patients' delegated dyadic coping, and negatively influenced by their own negative coping, patients' negative coping, as well as patients' stress communication (Meier et al 2011). Moreover, an imbalance in delegated dyadic coping (partners showing more delegated dyadic coping than patients) as well as in stress communication (patients showing more stress communication than partners) was found in couples with one partner suffering from COPD, whereas typical healthy couples have more reciprocal coping efforts (Meier et al 2012).…”

Psychosocial burden, approach versus avoidance coping, social support and quality of life (QOL) in caregivers of persons with dementia in Java, Indonesia: A cross-sectional study

“…Matched control groups should also be taken into account for a better understanding of differences in dyadic coping with social stressors between significant and caregiving others of impaired versus healthy people [28]. We applied the rSMSC for the first time in an Indonesian sample while it should be discussed whether this model applies well in this.…”

A comparison of younger and older couples coping with breast cancer : examining the relationship among mutuality, dyadic coping, and quality of life of patients and partners.

“…Support comes also from studies conducted on chronic illness (Acitelli & Badr, 2005;Hagedoorn et al, 2008Naumann, 2004;Rohrbaugh et al, 2002;Meier et al, 2012), immigration stress (Falconier, Nussbeck & Bodenmann, 2013;Austin & Falconier, 2013), sexual behavior , and in cross-cultural samples (Bertoni et al, 2007;Ledermann et al, 2010) .…”