Family Function and Self-Management in Glaucoma Patients: Chain Mediation of Psychological Capital and Coping Style

Glaucoma is an irreversible blinding disease, and patients' self-management ability directly influences both disease progression and quality of life. We aimed to study the relationship between family functioning and patient self-management behaviors, and mediating roles of psychological capital and coping styles.

Drawing from the theory of personal and family self-management, the present cross-sectional study proposed a conceptual model to assess the influence of family functioning on self-management behaviors in patients with glaucoma. The mediating effects of psychological capital and coping styles were also explored. We recruited 336 patients to participate in this study. A relational model was constructed using structural equation modeling, and bootstrap analyses were conducted to assess the mediation effects.

A strong positive link was identified between family functioning and self-management behaviors (r = 0.506, P < 0.01). Psychological capital and positive coping styles showed significant mediating effects, with effect sizes of 0.198 and 0.151, which represented 35.04% and 26.73% of the total effect, respectively. Furthermore, the combined chain mediating effect of these two variables was 0.049, representing 8.67% of the total effect.

Family functioning not only has a direct impact on self-management but also indirectly enhances the self-management capacity of glaucoma patients through psychological capital and positive coping styles. The findings implicated that a family-centered approach should be adopted to place family functioning in a central role to improve the psychological resources and promote adoption of positive coping mechanisms, ultimately leading to better self-management outcomes in glaucoma patients.