Faculty of Health, Department of Nursing Science, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany.
School of Health Science, Institute of Nursing, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland.
J Prim Care Community Health. 2022 Jan-Dec;13:21501319221119142. doi: 10.1177/21501319221119142.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) influences the relationships of affected couples, whereby the disease-related stress can lead to a deterioration of communication. This, in turn, makes it difficult for the couples to cope successfully. To support couples affected by MS for coping with the disease, the first step in developing an intervention is to examine whether this situation also applies in the Swiss context.
A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the psychosocial situation of couples where 1 partner has MS, regarding anxiety, depression, and stress communication. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (HADS-D) were used to assess depression and anxiety in both partners of 462 couples, while their stress communication was assessed using questions formulated according to the corresponding subscales of the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI). A comparison of the assessments of both partners was performed using the Mann-Whitney test. Furthermore, the relationship between their stress communication and the severity of anxiety and depression was calculated using Spearman's rank correlation.
Life partners rated the stress communication of their partners with MS significantly higher than the partners with MS themselves. Moreover, life partners could not distinguish whether their partners with MS expressed a sense of burden or a need for support. These findings indicate that the stress communication skills of both partners show potential for optimization. Health status regarding depression and anxiety revealed the following: 34.2% of the persons with MS and 34% of their life partners experienced clinically high levels of anxiety (HADS-D/A ≥ 8.0), and 31.4% of those with MS and 20.2% of the life partners showed clinically high levels of depression (HADS-D/D ≥ 8.0).
In the Swiss context, psychosocial intervention, which includes communication training for both partners, might be effective in improving the health status regarding depression and anxiety as well as the stress communication.
多发性硬化症（MS）影响受影响夫妇的关系，疾病相关压力会导致沟通恶化。这反过来又使夫妇难以成功应对。为了支持受 MS 影响的夫妇应对疾病，开发干预措施的第一步是检查这种情况是否也适用于瑞士的情况。
进行了一项横断面研究，以检查 462 对夫妇中一方患有 MS 的夫妇的心理社会状况，评估其焦虑、抑郁和压力沟通情况。使用医院焦虑和抑郁量表（HADS-D）评估 462 对夫妇中双方的抑郁和焦虑情况，而其压力沟通则使用根据对偶应对量表（DCI）相应分量表制定的问题进行评估。使用 Mann-Whitney U 检验比较双方的评估结果。此外，还使用 Spearman 秩相关计算了他们的压力沟通与焦虑和抑郁严重程度之间的关系。
生活伴侣对伴侣的压力沟通的评价明显高于 MS 伴侣本人。此外，生活伴侣无法区分他们的 MS 伴侣是否表达了负担感或需要支持。这些发现表明，双方的压力沟通技巧具有优化的潜力。抑郁和焦虑方面的健康状况显示：34.2%的 MS 患者及其 34%的生活伴侣经历了临床水平的高度焦虑（HADS-D/A≥8.0），而 31.4%的 MS 患者及其 20.2%的生活伴侣则表现出了临床水平的高度抑郁（HADS-D/D≥8.0）。
在瑞士的背景下，包括对双方进行沟通培训的心理社会干预可能会有效改善抑郁和焦虑的健康状况以及压力沟通。
