A relational perspective on patient engagement: Suggestions from couple-based research and intervention

Research on the engagement of patients and their partners and the literature on couple relationships have remained surprisingly separated. In response to this gap, the first aim of the chapter is to show the advantages of an integration of these two lines of research in the context of promoting engagement in patients and their partners. Particular attention is devoted to couples’ stress and coping literature and to those few studies that investigated the role played for patient engagement by characteristics of patients, partners, and their relationship. Couple-based research can inform engagement literature about facilitators and barriers to couples’ coping with illness and about how to promote engagement in the context of the couple. Within this research, the concept of dyadic coping can be especially helpful in understanding how partners can effectively deal with the stress related to acute and chronic illness as well as the barriers to this process. A second aim of the chapter is to connect the suggestions from couple-based research with the field of engagement promotion.