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Encouraging positive coping styles may improve family resilience and reduce the burden among COPD caregivers, according to recent research findings.

Promoting positive coping styles among caregivers of patients with COPD may help reduce caregiver burden and improve resilience, according to findings published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.¹

Nan Zhang and colleagues sought to investigate correlations between coping style and family resilience, “considering the mediating factors of burden and individual resilience” among caregivers of patients with COPD. Using convenience sampling, they conducted a cross-sectional survey of 204 caregivers from April 2023 to May 2024.

The researchers identified influencing factors using the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test and found associations using Spearman correlation analysis. Linear regression analyses and structural equation modeling revealed which factors mediated burden and resilience.

Family resilience was positively associated with positive coping styles and individual resilience but negatively associated with caregiver burden. In addition, caregivers of patients with higher education levels demonstrated higher family resilience.

“The family resilience of caregivers increased with the improvement of positive coping style and individual resilience, and decreased with the increase of caregiver burden,” the investigators said. “Caregiver burden and resilience played the chain mediating roles between positive coping style and family resilience.”

The investigators concluded that increasing positive coping may improve family resilience and reduce the burden among caregivers of patients with COPD.

Positive coping styles are strategies to manage stress and adversity, promoting psychological resilience and well-being.² These strategies can include:

• Problem-focused coping involves actively addressing the source of stress through planning and solution-seeking behaviors.
• Emotion-focused coping aims to reduce negative emotions associated with stressors through techniques such as positive reframing, acceptance, and humor.
• Meaning-focused coping involves deriving personal significance from challenging situations to encourage growth and adaptation.

Positive coping strategies include mindfulness, meditation, journaling, regular exercise, positive affirmations, spending time in nature, and devoting time to hobbies.

“There are individual differences in the level of family resilience of caregivers of COPD patients, and [clinicians] can provide personalized interventions to different family caregivers by understanding their characteristics and needs. [Clinicians] can improve the family resilience of caregivers by guiding them to adopt positive coping styles, reducing burdens and promoting resilience,” the researchers concluded.