How can I help my wife on her first playthrough?

Knowing how much this game has meant to me since launch, my wife finally decided to try Skyrim for the first time. She’s been having a blast for the first few levels and quests she’s picked up! Recently, though, she’s hit a rough patch and says she dies in one or two hits every fight. She hasn’t been able to fully complete a quest in a couple of days because of it, and she’s getting really frustrated and discouraged. She thinks she’s just incredibly bad at the game and that she’s doing something wrong.

Her current build is a Level 11 Nord using Light Armor and Two-Handed weapons, mostly. She dabbles in magic and is decent with a bow, but really prefers to get down and dirty with a big axe. She has Lydia with her to sponge some damage, but she still dies in a hit or two if something actually hits her instead. She’s pumped most of her levels into health to try to survive better.

In terms of Main Story, she’s about to head to the Thalmor Embassy, but she put it on hold to do other things. She’s joined the Companions, investigated Aventus Aretino and killed Grelod (but hasn’t met the Dark Brotherhood yet, I’ve kept that secret so far), and has done a bunch of little and radiant quests.

She’s playing on Adept, and really refuses to lower the difficulty. She says that she should be able to handle “normal” mode like everyone else, and that she doesn’t know what she’s doing wrong, because “no one sucks this bad.”

How can I help her get through this rough patch? I can tell she doesn’t want to give up on the game, whether she’s genuinely having fun or for my sake, and I know she can do it. What would you do?