Dyadic coping, resilience, and posttraumatic growth in spinal cord injury patients and their spouses: An actor-partner interdependence mediation model analysis.

Objective: Despite the recognized importance of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in the recovery process, the mechanisms that promote PTG in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients and their spouses, especially the roles of dyadic coping (DC) and resilience, have not been fully explored. This study aimed to assess the PTG of patients with SCI and their spouses and to investigate the interrelationships among DC, resilience, and PTG within the dyadic context.

Method: A total of 154 SCI patient-spouse dyads were recruited from a rehabilitation hospital in China. All participants completed questionnaires about DC, resilience, and PTG. Our study was based on the actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM).

Results: SCI patients and their spouses experienced comparable PTG level, M_(patients) = 56.05 ± 14.09, M_(spouses) = 54.74 ± 15.31. In the APIMeM, the patients' and their spouses' DC exerted actor effects on their own resilience, β_(patients) = .418, p < .001; β_(spouses) = .409, p < .01, and their own resilience also exerted actor effects on their own PTG, β_(patients) = .416, p < .001; β_(spouses) = .431, p < .001. The mediating effects of resilience on the impact of patients' and spouses' own DC on their own PTG were confirmed.

Conclusions: Our research offers new insight into the PTG of SCI patients and their spouses at the individual and dyadic levels. Resilience partially mediates the relationship between DC and PTG in couples coping with SCI. Specifically, DC between SCI patient-spouse dyads can not only directly influence the level of PTG but also impact PTG through resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).