Correlates of concealment behavior among couples coping with cancer: Actor partner model

Abstract

Findings stress the important roles played by spousal support and perspective-taking in communication patterns between couples affected by cancer. Although the perception of support from one's spouse seems to reduce the need to conceal cancer-related issues, interventions that focus on couples' communication should address the differential implications of perspective-taking, as they can lead to either more or less self-concealment among couples, depending on role and gender.

Men’s stress expression and perception of partner’s support within the romantic relationships: A systematic review.

“…They also revealed the mediating role of low intimacy with the romantic partner for the link between lower levels of communication and higher levels of distress. Similar results were found in the study by Wertheim et al (2018), where less concealment of information about the illness was linked to increase in their subjective feelings of support from their partner. Finally, men characterized by alexithymia (the inability to identify and describe emotions experienced by one's self or others, for a review, see Taylor, 2000) showed higher levels of depressive symptoms, although not at a clinical level (Gabriel et al, 2016).…”

“…Comparing healthy men with men with cardiovascular disease, Novak et al (2014) reported that ill men’s perception of their partner’s affective communication as problematic was linked with lower levels of their own health satisfaction, whereas such link was not present for healthy men. Perceived similarity, commitment to the relationship, and communication with the partner were also found to predict support perception (Barnoy et al, 2006; Kershaw et al, 2008; Landis et al, 2014; Wertheim et al, 2018). Perceived similarity within the intimate relationship was found to be linked with positive effects for men in the clinical sample.…”

“…Measures of perceived support were taken from both men and women in dyads where either the man or the women was in the patient role. Results indicated an interaction between role and gender, by showing that in dyads where men were in the patient’s role, the differences in measures of the patient’s support perception provision and the caregiver’s support perception provision were greater than in dyads where men were in the patient’s role (Wertheim et al, 2018). Another study conducted with clinical population suggests that male patients tend to perceive greater levels of overprotection provided by their partner, as compared to female patients (Joekes et al, 2007).…”

“…As compared to women, men struggle to perceive their partner’s support (Joekes et al, 2007; Wertheim et al, 2018). One study compared perceptions of support between male and female patients.…”

Relationships between dyadic coping, intimate relationship and post‐traumatic growth in patients with breast cancer: A cross‐sectional study

“…As patients’ demands change, we need to encourage spouses to change their support, thus preventing excessive support that may hinder positive mental change in patients with BC (Gao et al, 2020). In addition, another reason may be that the concealment behaviour among couples who have a high quality of intimate relationship causes patients to experience extreme negative emotions, resulting in patients struggling to recover from the trauma (Soriano et al, 2021; Wertheim et al, 2018). BC patients and their spouses should be considered holistically as a whole, and we are carrying out an in‐depth study to confirming this analysis.…”