Marital Adjustment Among Copd Patients Participating In Exercise Rehabilitation

Previous research suggests that marriage and marital satisfaction is associated with morbidity and mortality across various chronic diseases. However, no studies have examined marital adjustment in the context of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) participating in exercise rehabilitation, despite evidence suggesting that COPD may lead to marital distress. Fifty-two patients with COPD and their partners were evaluated on measures of marital adjustment before and after an 8-week exercise rehabilitation program. Patients were evaluated on measures of psychological well-being, pulmonary function, functional capacity, dyspnea, and quality of life. Specific hypotheses tested included: 1) marital adjustment and quality of life among COPD patients and their partners will be poor compared to a healthy normative sample, 2) depression and anxiety will mediate the relationship between marital adjustment and quality of life, 3) dyspnea will mediate the relationship between marital adjustment and quality of life, 4) marital adjustment will moderate the relationship between functional capacity and quality of life, 5) anxiety, depression, dyspnea, functional capacity, quality of life, and marital adjustment will improve over time among patients participating in an 8-week exercise rehabilitation program, and 6) baseline marital adjustment will predict changes in dyspnea, functional capacity, quality of life, depression, and anxiety over an 8-week rehabilitation program. Results indicated several findings including: 1) contrary to expectations, patient and partner marital adjustment was high, 2) socioeconomic status was associated with patient functioning but not marital adjustment, 3) marital adjustment was associated with psychological well-being, functional capacity, and quality of life, 4) depression and anxiety mediated the relationship between marital adjustment and quality of life except when controlling for social support, 5) quality of life, functional capacity, and marital adjustment improved over time, and 6) drop-out from rehabilitation was associated with baseline levels of well-being and quality of life. These results suggest that marital adjustment is a relevant variable associated with patients suffering from COPD. However, measures of marital functioning beyond marital adjustment and a revised model of COPD may lead to a better understanding of the disease.