Yes, I can (with you)! Dyadic coping and self‐management outcomes in cardiovascular disease: The mediating role of health self‐efficacy

Abstract

Cardiac patients show alarming levels of nonadherence to medications. It is important to consider also patient activation levels. Furthermore, the partner could have a supporting role in these processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of patient health self-efficacy (HSE) in the link between dyadic coping (DC) and two self-management outcomes (i.e. medication adherence and patient activation) across the first 6 months of cardiac disease. One hundred couples completed two self-report questionnaires during the hospitalisation for cardiac disease and 6 months after discharge. A longitudinal and dyadic research design was adopted. Cross-sectional analyses at T0 revealed that patient-provided and perceived positive DC and common DC are positively associated with HSE, which in turn is positively associated with medication adherence. HSE mediated the association between patient positive and common DC styles, with the only exception of Patient-provided positive DC, and patient activation. Conversely, patient-provided and perceived negative DC are negatively associated with HSE, which in turns is positively associated with medication adherence and patient activation. Prospective analyses showed that only patient-perceived negative DC at discharge is negatively associated with HSE at T1, which in turns is positively associated with patient activation over time. These results suggest to consider patient perceived and provided DC as antecedents of self-management outcomes via patient HSE. Furthermore, our results recommend to pay particular attention to negative DC, whose negative consequences are manifested also over time, planning interventions targeting partners' awareness of their own DC style.

“The heart in a bag”: The lived experience of patient-caregiver dyads with left ventricular assist device during cardiac rehabilitation

“…Importantly, patient outcomes and those of their caregivers are typically interdependent, as characteristic of dyadic processes in intimate relationships. This means that the outcomes of one member of the dyad influence the outcomes of the other member and vice versa, as shown in studies involving the non-clinical population (e.g., Donato et al, 2015 ), patients with cardiovascular problems (e.g., George-Levi et al, 2016 ; Rapelli et al, 2021 , 2022a ), and with LVAD specifically ( Bidwell et al, 2018 ; Rossi Ferrario and Panzeri, 2020 ).…”

The role of patient activation in self‐care behaviours of Korean older adults with heart failure

“…Furthermore, this study showed that patient activation, health literacy and disease knowledge explained only approximately 25% of the total variance in the self-care behaviours of older HF patients. According to recent studies regarding the role of partners in patient activation among cardiac patient, partners may be a key resource in HF management because partner presence can contribute to or impede activation in patients' self-care behaviours (Rapelli et al, 2020(Rapelli et al, , 2022. Unfortunately, this study did not include additional information on partner or spouse such as relationship quality and type of caregiving.…”

Cardiovascular risk and biopsychosocial interplay: Association among hypertension, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation—observational study in primary care setting for efficient self‐care

“…Our finding was in line with preview studies 2,4–6 and strongly highlighted the impact of psychological and behavioral interplay in cardiovascular risk. Cardiac disease could be affected in the first time of primary care to the low adherence to the medication drawing and alarming level for self‐management of health in long time 22,23 . Emotional regulation appeared the mechanisms to take care in clinical setting for adherence to medication 11,24 .…”