Couples Coping With Multiple Sclerosis: Does Dyadic Coping Congruence Matter?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects 90,000 Canadians and 25% of MS patients report their relationship is negatively affected by MS. Patient and partner wellbeing are also correlated therefore, examining coping from a dyadic perspective is warranted. The objectives of this thesis were to explore individual and conjoint dyadic coping (DC) strategies and DC congruence in couples high and low in relationship functioning (RF). MS patients and their partners completed quantitative measures and purposive sampling was used to categorize couples as high or low in RF. Interviews were conducted with participants separately and results were analyzed using thematic analysis. High RF couples generally engaged in adaptive strategies (e.g., illness acceptance) and low RF couples generally engaged in maladaptive strategies (e.g., conceptualizing MS as an individual issue). DC congruence was not as important as the additive effect of positive DC strategies. Contextual factors like life stage, financial stress, and culture influenced DC strategies.