Self-management Behaviors Among COPD Patients With Multi-Morbidity

Outcomes for patients with multimorbidity (MM) are often poor, in part because of low adherence to self-management behaviors (SMB). Research has identified key determinants of SMB for individual diseases and shown the powerful influence that illness representations and medication beliefs have on these behaviors. Yet, little is known about the impact of illness representations in the context of MM where beliefs about one illness and its treatments may be at odds, or symbiotic, with those for comorbidities. Without this knowledge, ability to provide optimal self-management support for MM patients is limited. The Pilot will be focusing on three mayor components with the hopes to provide optimal self-management support for MM patients:

i. Beliefs about Multi-Morbidity The Care Coach will discuss the participant's individual disease & self-management-related beliefs. This discussion will be guided by a semi-structured questionnaire covering domains from Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) and the Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire (BMQ) for each pertinent multi-morbidity.

For example, the Care Coach will ask: "How long do you believe that your COPD will continue?" "And how about your hypertension, how long will it continue?" The Care Coach will note the participants' responses to each question, and mark which beliefs seem to be potentially counterproductive to self-management (e.g. very concerned about taking DM medications long-term). These beliefs will be used to focus the intervention session section on cognitive restructuring. Beliefs will be addressed using a Cognitive restructuring approach.

ii. Emotional Response Next, the Care Coach will ask the participant about the role of emotional responses and mental state in their disease management. This will consist of 1-2 semi-structured questions about symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as the emotional impact of each comorbidity in the participant's life.

For example: "Does your COPD affect you emotionally? [If yes] In what ways?" The Care Coach will take notes on the participants' self-reported emotional response to their comorbidities, as well as any observed indications of distress/emotional reaction to their illnesses. This information, combined with the participants' data from the 15-month DISH interview (Diagnostic Interview and Structured Hamilton assessment tool), will be used to determine the focus of the emotional response portion of the intervention.