Abstract
Background and aimsPatients with age -related hearing loss (ARHL) and their natural caregivers have to confront a disability that produces progressive lifestyle changes. There is an interest in studying the ability of patients and their caregivers to cope with the difficulties that affect quality of life (QoL). In a sample of patient-caregiver dyads in the specific context of ARHL, we examine whether the QoL of patients and caregivers is influenced by the coping processes they use from a specific actor–partner interdependence model (APIM).MethodsThis cross-sectional study involved dyads with patients having a diagnosis of ARHL. The self-reported data included QoL (WHOQoL-BREF) and coping strategies (BriefCope). The APIM was used to test the dyadic effects of coping strategies on QoL.ResultsA total of 448 dyads were included; the patients and caregivers were love partners for 59% of the dyads. Coping strategies, such as social support, avoidance, problem solving, and positive thinking, exhibited evidence of actor effects (degree to which the individual’s coping strategies are associated with their own QoL). Effects on the partner (degree to which the individual’s coping strategies are associated with the QoL of the other member of the dyad) were found, i.e., when the patients mobilized their coping strategy based on social support and problem-solving, their caregivers reported higher environmental QoL.ConclusionThis study emphasizes that the QoL for patients and their caregivers was directly related to the coping strategies they used. This finding suggests that targeted interventions should be offered to help patients and their relatives to implement more effective coping strategies.
Highlights
Background and aimsPatients with age -related hearing loss (ARHL) and their natural caregivers have to confront a disability that produces progressive lifestyle changes
Lazzarotto et al Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (2019) 17:86 as shown in various contexts, such as cancer [15, 16] or severe mental disease [17]. These different studies showed that positive thinking or problem solving seem to be preferentially associated with better quality of life (QoL), and the use of strategies based on avoidance or social support appear to be a risk factor for lower QoL [15,16,17,18]
Among a large sample of patient-caregiver dyads, we examined whether the QoL of patients and caregivers is influenced by the coping strategies implemented by either themselves or their relatives, using the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) [20]
Summary
Background and aimsPatients with age -related hearing loss (ARHL) and their natural caregivers have to confront a disability that produces progressive lifestyle changes. There is an interest in studying the ability of patients and their caregivers to cope with the difficulties that affect quality of life (QoL). Lazzarotto et al Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (2019) 17:86 as shown in various contexts, such as cancer [15, 16] or severe mental disease [17]. These different studies showed that positive thinking or problem solving seem to be preferentially associated with better QoL, and the use of strategies based on avoidance or social support appear to be a risk factor for lower QoL [15,16,17,18]
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