Duplicial functors, descent categories and generalized Hopf modules

B\"ohm and \c{S}tefan have expressed cyclic homology as an invariant that assigns homology groups $\mathrm{HC}^\chi_i(\mathrm N, \mathrm M)$ to right and left coalgebras $\mathrm N$ respectively $\mathrm M$ over a distributive law $\chi$ between two comonads. For the key example associated to a bialgebra $H$, right $\chi$-coalgebras have a description in terms of modules and comodules over $H$. The present article formulates conditions under which such a description is simultaneously possible for the left $\chi$-coalgebras. In the above example, this is the case when the bialgebra $H$ is a Hopf algebra with bijective antipode. We also discuss how the generalized Hopf module theorem by Mesablishvili and Wisbauer features both in theory and examples.