I haven't checked mine yet as it works fine but, most hand brake cables have an adjuster like this... it has a concave surface, that mates to a convex surface ( a bit like a cam lobe) that is part of the end of the outer cable. As such, when you turn the adjuster, there is greater friction until the high points are overcome and then the two faces meet again. If the adjuster is lacking in lubrication, the adjuster can come back together again with a bit of a twang which, could make it sound like the threads are stripped. This cam like feature stops the cable from slackeneing off whilst driving as the adjuster cannot turn of its own accord.

I don't have any pics to show this, can anyone else help?

If you can get a couple of full turns on the adjuster, there should be a noticable,if not a great difference.

As I said I haven't done much with my brakes yet so I don't know if the rear brakes have automaticdjusters, but if they have, these will need winding off so that the slack can be taken up with the hand brake adjuster. Work the handbrake a few times to make sure the shoes are fully extended. Trial and error I'm afraid unless you have a workshop manual or checked out the freebie on Andrew Newton's site
Keep forgetting about this!!

If the rear discs on a coupe are like my old Omega, the handbrake shoes are inside the disc and have no bearing on the operation, servicing and replacement of the disc pads.

Cheers

Chris