Coping and Multiple Sclerosis:Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis and their Significant Others

Coping;Multiple Sclerosis;Dyad

Boland, Pauline ; Levack, William ; Hudson, Sheena

University of Otago

关键词: Coping;    Multiple Sclerosis;    Dyad;   

Others  :  https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/10523/1758/1/BolandPauline2011MHealSciRehabilitation.pdf

美国|英语

来源: Otago University Research Archive

【 摘 要 】

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative condition which affects everyone differently as regards emergence of symptoms. The illness uncertainty associated with MS has ramifications for how those with the condition and those close to them cope with the illness, with each other and with the effect it has on their lives. Health professionals acknowledge that those with MS need to be seen in the context of their families. The perspective of significant others (SOs) need to be acknowledged. However there is a lack of knowledge about what to expect about how people cope as a dyad.This study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore how those with MS and their SOs cope with this illness in their lives. Seven couples were recruited using purposive sampling through the MS society. Each person in the couple was interviewed separately using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the principles of IPA to produce overarching themes and sub themes. Peer coding by two supervisors helped to enrich the analysis and contributed to the trustworthiness of the findings.Three overarching themes emerged from the data, two overarching themes with four sub themes and one overarching theme with 3 sub themes. These overarching themes are labelled: Resources and Barriers to Coping, Coping Together: