Is spousal support always helpful to patients with asthma or diabetes? A prospective study

The current study examined effects of three ways of providing spousal support (active engagement, protective buffering, and overprotection) on self-efficacy and physical and mental health in patients with diseases imposing a high demand on self-management routines (36 asthma patients and 21 diabetic patients). Employing a nine-month prospective design, we hypothesized that active engagement would be positively related to health and self-efficacy, that overprotection would have a negative impact, and that the impact of protective buffering would depend on symptom level at baseline. Results confirmed the latter hypothesis while either positive or negative effects of active engagement and overprotection were absent. These findings are discussed with respect to the role of spousal support in diseases requiring self-management behaviour.