Dyadic coping in metastatic breast cancer.

Abstract

Objective Couples facing metastatic breast cancer (MBC) must learn to cope with stressors that can affect both partners' quality of life as well as the quality of their relationship. Common dyadic coping involves taking a “we” approach, whereby partners work together to maintain their relationship while jointly managing their shared stress. This study prospectively evaluated whether common dyadic coping was associated with less cancer-related distress and greater dyadic adjustment for female MBC patients and their male partners. Design Couples (N = 191) completed surveys at the start of treatment for MBC (baseline), and 3 and 6 months later. Main Outcome Measures Cancer-related distress was assessed with the Impact of Events Scale; dyadic adjustment was assessed using the short-form of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results Multilevel models using the couple as the unit of analysis showed that the effects of common positive dyadic coping on cancer-related distress significantly differed for patients and their partners. Whereas partners experienced slightly lower levels of distress, patients experienced slightly higher levels of distress. Although patients and partners who used more common negative dyadic coping experienced significantly greater distress at all times, the association was stronger for patients. Finally, using more common positive dyadic coping and less common negative dyadic coping was mutually beneficial for patients and partners in terms of greater dyadic adjustment. Conclusion Our findings underscore the importance of couples working together to manage the stress associated with MBC. Future research may benefit from greater focus on the interactions between patients and their partners to address ways that couples can adaptively cope together.

Self-Disclosure of Breast Cancer Diagnosis by Iranian Women to Friends and Colleagues

“…number of breast cancer patients experience considerable mood disturbances post-diagnosis and surgery (Badr et al, 2010). Moreover, psychological distress may predict the length of survival after cancer diagnosis (Park 2010).…”

“…In the past few decades, the survival rate for most cancer patients has steadily increased (Badr et al, 2010).The Diseases factors, as well as individual and work-related factors, considerably influence the chances of returning to work after cancer (Mehnert 2011).Evidence shows that most employed BC survivors are able to return to work (Johnsson et al, 2009;Mehnert 2011;Tamminga et al, 2012); however, they often face difficulties in doing so due to physical or cognitive work limitations (Rozman 2009).…”

New frontiers in couple-based interventions in cancer care: refining the prescription for spousal communication

“…Communal coping involves appraising a stressor as 'our' issue (shared appraisal) rather than 'yours' or 'mine' (individual appraisal) and taking collaborative, 'we'-based actions to address it [66,78]. Although studies suggest that having a communal coping orientation promotes psychological and marital adjustment [79,80], very little is known about how communal coping is actually communicated or unfolds during couples' discussions about cancer. A growing body of research suggests that, unlike self-reports of coping which are vulnerable to social desirability and other cognitive biases, speech particles like pronouns are more impervious to conscious choice [81] and may serve as an 'implicit' measure of coping focus [82].…”

The Social Ecology of Adolescents’ Cancer Experience: A Narrative Review and Future Directions

“…First, most studies are conducted on adult patients and spousal caregivers (Badr et al 2010;Ben-Zur 2001;Carmack Taylor et al 2008;Kim et al 2007), which may not translate to younger patients and their parental caregivers. For instance, in the case of adolescent patients, caregivers have a clear advantage in the form of authority and power within the relationship; this is unlikely to be the case in spousal or adult relationships.…”