Taking Action: a Care for Type 2 Diabetes Intervention for Couples

This intervention aims to foster a shared appraisal and collaboration through: the discussion of past joint coping, education about communal coping (e.g. what it is and why it is beneficial), and discussions to foster the perception of diabetes as shared. Participants in the intervention group will also create collaborative action plans to increase collaboration. Couples in the intervention group will also receive two daily text messages-one a general reminder to engage in communal coping and the other one of the collaborative intentions they created during the in-person session. These couples will also receive a brief diabetes education.

Couples in the diabetes education group will receive a brief diabetes education and complete individual implementation intentions. Patients will create implementation intentions related to diabetes and partners will create implementation intentions that are not related to health.