Posttraumatic Growth, Dyadic Adjustment, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Husbands

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify whether the couple perceived breast cancer as a traumatic event, to evaluate the association among posttraumatic growth, dyadic adjustment, and quality of life and to explore the predictors affecting quality of life of the couple. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative survey design was utilized. Participants were 57 couples recruited from a national cancer center in Korea. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, McNemar test and independent t-test. On the basis of variables found to be significantly associated with quality of life, multiple regression was used to examine the simultaneous influence of multiple predictors. Results: Breast cancers survivors and spouses perceived breast cancer as a traumatic event (43.9% and 24.6%, respectively). The global quality of life was explained by perception as trauma (ß= -19.79) and posttraumatic growth (ß= 0.46) in survivors, and perception as trauma (ß= -18.81) and dyadic adjustment (ß= 0.53) in spouses. Conclusion: Results suggest that future research should use qualitative methods to evaluate why contemplating reasons for cancer contributed to posttraumatic growth, examine other potential predictors of quality of life such as dyadic adjustment and intimacy, and identify links between posttraumatic growth and other psychological outcomes such as distress and well-being, using prospective analyses. If the original work is properly cited and retained without any modification or reproduction, it can be used and re-distributed in any format and medium.

Effects of stress, dyadic communication and adaptation on prostatectomy patients' quality of life

“…For dyadic adaptation, the levels of couple consensus, couple cohesion and couple satisfaction do not show statistically significant differences. The results obtained with the prostatectomy couples are similar to those obtained with breast cancer patients and their spouses (Song and Ryu, ).…”

“…However, these results require follow‐up studies on the effects of stress and disease characteristics of the couple's QOL, with a larger number of study subjects. In addition, several predictive factors, such as intimacy, identity, pain, well‐being (Song and Ryu, ) and optimism (Thornton et al , ), should be considered in future studies.…”

Posttraumatic growth in breast cancer survivors and their husbands based on the actor‐partner interdependence model

“…These indicators signify an increase in BC survival, and accordingly, the need for follow‐up care to promote physical and psychological health has emerged as an issue . A diagnosis of cancer increases stress in cancer survivors and their spouses; however, trauma‐related stress is not always correlated with negative results .…”

“…In addition, both parties experienced PTG, which was correlated with emotional and psychological maturity in BC diagnosis. It should be noted that some reports have indicated that trauma associated with the experience of cancer‐affected survivors' husbands and family caregivers, who experienced positive outcomes involving PTG after recognizing the cancer diagnosis as trauma …”

“…Factors reported to influence PTG in BC survivors' spouses are as follows: social support, spousal relationship quality, spouse's PTG, increase in PTG with shorter diagnosis periods, younger age, intrusive thoughts, and marital satisfaction . However, couples potentially share not only PTG but also distress . In other words, while cancer survivors and their spouses could offer each other social support and emotional stability, they could also share negative outcomes, such as depression and anxiety .…”