Examining discrepancies between actual and desired communal coping with type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes has deleterious physiological, psychological, and relational effects both on people living with diabetes (PLWD) and on their family members. We employed the communal coping model to investigate whether coping alongside family members was advantageous. Specifically, PLWD (n = 213) and family members of PLWD (n = 208) completed an online survey assessing their coping responses and a variety of diabetes‐related outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, relationship satisfaction, and self‐care). Generally, results indicated that more communal coping was beneficial. However, a second goal of this study was to examine discrepancies between levels of actual communal coping and desired communal coping, and the findings from these analyses add nuance to the generally held belief that more communal coping is always better.

Couples managing chronic illness: A test of the extended theoretical model of communal coping

“…Regardless of the reason, prior research, coupled with our own findings from the first two hypotheses, demonstrates that communal coping is not universally beneficial for people managing challenging health issues. Of note, these findings also highlight key differences between shared appraisal and joint action, supporting Afifi, Basinger et al.’s (2020) premise that shared appraisal and joint action are distinct dimensions of communal coping that should not be collapsed in measurement, a finding that has been replicated elsewhere (Basinger, 2020; Basinger et al, 2018).…”

“…Patients with higher communal coping, for example, have reported overprotective or controlling behavior from partners (Helgeson et al, 2017), and patients who had greater fluctuations in their appraisal over time had more distress (Lee, Helgeson, Van Vleet, Kelly et al., 2020). In addition, Basinger et al (2018) explored health outcomes for people with diabetes at different levels of communal coping and found that at moderate levels, self-care and relationship satisfaction were significantly worse than when communal coping was either high or low. Regardless of the reason, prior research, coupled with our own findings from the first two hypotheses, demonstrates that communal coping is not universally beneficial for people managing challenging health issues.…”

“…Another goal of the extended TMCC is to describe the functionality of communal coping, because although communal coping is often beneficial, it may not be possible or helpful under some conditions (Afifi, Afifi et al, 2016; Basinger et al, 2018). In line with that logic, scholars have examined communal coping in a variety of chronic health contexts and have generally found that communal coping is beneficial.…”

Partners' internal stress and well‐being: The role of dyadic coping and problem resolution

“…Future studies should investigate other components of the process (e.g., stress communication, stress appraisal, etc.). Research on communal coping, in fact, has especially emphasized the importance to investigate both shared appraisals of stress and joint coping actions (Basinger, 2020; Basinger et al, 2018). Finally, only intra‐individual effects were tested in this study, given that dyadic coping was measured in terms of perceptions of the other's behaviors only 1 .…”