The worse we feel, the more intensively we need to stick together: a qualitative study of couples’ emotional co-regulation of the challenge of multimorbidity

Horn, Andrea B; Zimmerli, Lukas; Maercker, Andreas; Holzer, Barbara M

doi:10.5167/uzh-236084

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Horn, A. B., Zimmerli, L., Maercker, A., & Holzer, B. M. (2023). The worse we feel, the more intensively we need to stick together: a qualitative study of couples’ emotional co-regulation of the challenge of multimorbidity. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1213927. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1213927

Abstract

IntroductionBeing faced with multimorbidity (i.e., being diagnosed with at least two chronic conditions), is not only demanding in terms of following complicated medical regimes and changing health behaviors. The changes and threats involved also provoke emotional responses in the patients but also in their romantic partners. This study aims at exploring the ways of emotional co-regulation that couples facing multimorbidity express when interviewed together.MethodN = 15 opposite sex couples with one multimorbid patient after an acute