The roles of dispositional coping style and social support in helping people with respiratory disease cope with a breathlessness crisis

Johnson, Miriam; Garcia, Maja Villanueva; Luckett, Tim; Hutchinson, Ann; Lal, Sara; Phillips, Jane

Abstract

Aim: To explore the role of coping moderators in self-management of breathlessness crises by people with advanced respiratory disease. Design: A secondary analysis of semi-structured interview data. Methods: Interviews with patients who had advanced respiratory disease, chronic breathlessness and at least one experience where they considered presenting to Emergency but self-managed instead (a “near miss”). Participants were recruited from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia or Tasmania. Eligible caregivers were those who contributed to Emergency-related decision-making. Interviews were coded inductively and then deductively against the coping moderators social support and dispositional coping style, defined by the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping. Results: Interviews were conducted between October 2015 - April 2016 with 20 patients and three caregivers. Social networks offered emotional and practical support but also had potential for conflict with patients' ‘hardy’ coping style. Patient hardiness (characterized by a sense of ‘commitment’ and ‘challenge’) promoted a proactive approach to self-management but made some patients less willing to accept support. Information-seeking tendencies varied between patients and were sometimes shared with caregivers. An optimistic coping style appeared to be less equivocally beneficial. Conclusion: This study shows that social support and coping style may influence how people self-manage through their breathlessness crises and identified ways coping moderators can facilitate or hinder effective self-management. Impact: This study confers insights into how social-support and coping style can be supported and optimized to facilitate breathlessness self-management. Acknowledging coping moderator interactions is beneficial for developing resources and strategies that recognise patient mastery.

Citation

Johnson, M., Garcia, M. V., Luckett, T., Hutchinson, A., Lal, S., & Phillips, J. (2019). The roles of dispositional coping style and social support in helping people with respiratory disease cope with a breathlessness crisis. Journal of advanced nursing, 75(9), 1953-1965. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14039

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 2, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Apr 22, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-09
• Deposit Date: Apr 17, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 23, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Advanced Nursing
• Print ISSN: 0309-2402
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 1953-1965
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14039
• Keywords: Breathlessness; Dyspnea; Self-management; Coping; Nursing; Social support; Respiratory; Emergency; Qualitative
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1612296
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jan.14039?af=R
• Contract Date: Apr 17, 2019