Treatment Satisfaction With Couplelinks Online Intervention to Promote Dyadic Coping in Young Couples Affected by Breast Cancer

Abstract

BackgroundThis study evaluated participant satisfaction with “Couplelinks,” an online psychological intervention designed for younger couples coping with breast cancer. The program included six experiential learning exercises (plus one optional module), psychoeducational information, and support from a personal mental health professional.ObjectiveThe primary objectives were to examine participants’ perceptions of: the online intervention’s structure and content; the value of including a professional facilitator; and benefits and drawbacks of the program.MethodsA treatment satisfaction questionnaire comprised of Likert indices and open-ended questions pertaining to treatment satisfaction was completed by 26 patients and 27 male partners (N = 53) approximately 1–2 weeks following the intervention which occurred in the context of a randomized controlled trial. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize satisfaction ratings and generalized linear models with fixed effect for gender were used to test for differences in male-female outcomes. A thematic analysis was undertaken in order to understand, organize and summarize the qualitative textual feedback.ResultsParticipants reported an overall satisfaction rating of 4.3 out of 5 (SD = 0.54) with patient satisfaction ratings being higher than that of male partners’ (p = 0.01). The majority of participants considered the facilitator’s role to be necessary 4.6 (SD = 0.60), and found the program to be convenient 4.1 (SD = 0.81) despite some participants struggling to keep up with the modules. Subjective data revealed participants valued the convenience and flexibility of the online intervention and appreciated the program’s involvement of both partners. Participants also reported that including a professional facilitator humanized the intervention, served as motivation to progress through the program, facilitated insight into their relationship, and was reassuring. Experiential gains noted by participants included that the program: helped couples to open channels of communication; prompted them to designate quality time for one another; evoked feelings of unity and togetherness; and inspired new insight in the relationship.ConclusionSuch feedback supports the feasibility and acceptability of the Couplelinks program while offering directions for improvement of online couple-based interventions in cancer.

Dyadic Coping Experience With Pancreatic Cancer: a Qualitative Study of Dyadic Interviews

“…The spouse can take some measures to regulate the patient's mood to reduce pain. Guide patients to carry out correct deep breathing training to achieve the purpose of relaxation and divert the patient's attention to relieve pain, such as listening to music, watching video 27 . Patients with pancreatic cancer often experience malnutrition, which is related to a lack of intake or uptake of nutrients 28 .…”

Couple-Based Communication Interventions for Cancer Patient–Spousal Caregiver Dyads’ Psychosocial Adaptation to Cancer: A Systematic Review

“…The articles' sample sizes differed, ranging from nine dyads to 237 dyads. Across the target population, 10 studies focused on participants regardless of the level of their relationship or individual functioning before the intervention [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], while four studies recruited those who had distress or cancer-related communication problems before the intervention [33][34][35][36]. In addition, ethnicity and education level of the majority of the participants in the included studies were Caucasian and college or higher, respectively.…”

“…Six kinds of theoretical framework were used to instruct the research included in this review, including the developmental model of couple adaptation to illness [23][24][25], the theory of health relationship functioning [23][24][25], models of dyadic coping [23], systemicconstructive metatheory [24,25], social-cognitive processing theory [26] and RIM [26,27,33]. Among these theoretical frameworks, RIM was the most frequently demonstrated and was used to guide two kinds of intervention programs.…”

“…All 14 studies included self-disclosure contents, which primarily aimed to guide couples to disclose cancer-related experiences, thoughts and feelings. Of the 14 studies, 11 studies trained reciprocal selfdisclosure [23][24][25][26][27][28][32][33][34][35][36], while the remaining three studies trained CPs' unidirectional selfdisclosure to their SCs [29][30][31]. Partner responsiveness contents were included in 13 studies [23][24][25][26][27][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36], which mainly aimed to teach partners to become attentive listeners to help the other couple member feel understood and cared for.…”

Examining engagement in a self‐in‐relationship observation exercise by couples coping with breast cancer: A qualitative analysis of text‐based feedback

“…While progressing through the program, couples provided written, text‐based feedback on each module immediately after its completion. They also completed a general, Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire when they finished the whole Couplelinks program (Fergus et al, 2022). In response to open‐ended questions on the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire, the CC exercise was raised by couples as being one module that stood out among the others as particularly valuable.…”