Coping with multiple sclerosis as a couple: ‘peaks and troughs’ – an interpretative phenomenological exploration

Abstract

Purpose: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic degenerative condition where illness uncertainty is a key difficulty that people with MS and their significant others have to cope with. Clinicians acknowledge that people with MS need to be seen in the context of their families, however there is little knowledge on what to expect about how people cope as a couple, which this study set out to explore. Method: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) exploring, through semi-structured interviews, how seven couples, where one had MS, experienced coping with their situation. Results: Two overarching themes pertaining to coping as a couple emerged from the data: Coping Together: “Peaks and Troughs” and Coping Over the Long Haul, with each overarching theme relating to sub-themes. Two integrative themes emerged also, which were called Faith in Self and Faith in Each Other. Conclusions: These results will assist clinicians better comprehend how those with MS and their spouses cope in an interconnected way and this in turn affects their experience of rehabilitation. Results from this research indicated that clinicians need to be sensitive to the individual coping strategies of both members of a couple where one has MS, and address the changing needs of their relationship.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• It is important to consider how people with MS and their significant others cope as a couple when planning rehabilitation intervention

• Health professionals need to be mindful that the coping strategies of people with MS and their partners’ is reliant on concentrating on the present

• Health professionals could take a greater role in considering couples’ relationships and the role of optimism as part of rehabilitation

Keywords::

• Chronic conditions
• couples
• coping
• dyadic coping
• multiple sclerosis
• resilience

Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks to Dr. Fi Graham for her support in reviewing and refining drafts of this paper.

Declaration of Interest: This research was carried out with support from a Health Research Council Disability Related Placement scholarship (Ref [10]:/044).

Notes

¹‘New Zealand European’ is a term used in New Zealand census data to define people who are from New Zealand but who identify with a European cultural heritage. Immigrants from Europe who instead identify most strongly with their place of birth when describing their ethnicity may choose, in New Zealand census data, another term to describe their culture (e.g. ‘British’, ‘Irish’, ‘Italian’ etc.)