Abstract
In a longitudinal study with three points in time over a period of six months, 381 cardiac
bypass patients and their 122 spouses were examined pertaining to their optimism,
self-efficacy, anger, self-regulation competence, their perceived social support and
loneliness, their emotions, their quality of life, and their physical symptoms. In
addition, for patients their health locus of control, and their coping strategies, as well
as indicators of early recovery from surgery were assessed.
In a first step, associations and differences between patients’ and spouses’
personal characteristics, and differences within those two groups were analyzed. Next, the
relation between presurgery spouses’ characteristics and postsurgery patients’
characteristics, and recovery indicators was scrutinized. Next, an attempt was made to
predict patients’ recovery and readjustment by presurgery spouses’
characteristics. The second part of data analysis was dedicated to the role of social
support in couples coping with illness.
It was not possible to predict patients’ recovery from surgery by presurgery
spouses’ characteristics, but it was possible to predict their long-term adjustment.
In general, various associations between patients’ and spouses’ characteristics
were found, thus providing a first hint at a dyadic coping process. On the other hand,
significant differences emerged between patients and caregivers, and differences within
those groups referring to gender, or social support, for example, rendering possible to
identify specific characteristics of good adjustment, among them self-regulation, sadness,
and vigour. Apart from that, quality of life (as a broader scope than quality of marital
relationship) proved to be a prominent dimension in examining adjustment and well-being.
Moreover, evidence was found for the paramount importance of social support in the process
of adjustment, for both patients and spouses. The results lead to suggest a process of
dyadic coping with stress: Rather than focusing on the individual patient or caregiver, a
transactional perspective should guide future research on couples coping with serious
illness.
Author's note.
This study was conducted in collaboration with Wolfgang Konertz, Kerstin
Schröder, and Ralf Schwarzer. Their advice and contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
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