Study: Coping With Breast Cancer Impacts Both Partners

The way a married couple copes with a diagnosis of breast cancer has an impact on how each of them and their marriage survive the ordeal, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.

Researchers studied 131 couples and in 58 of them, the woman received a diagnosis of breast cancer and in the remaining couples, the women were advised that they did not have the disease. The couples were interviewed at 1 week, 2 months and 1 year after the diagnosis.

The researchers asked the couples questions related to marital satisfaction, feelings of hopelessness, severity of illness, emotional distress as well as questions related to problems unrelated to the diagnosis of breast cancer such as job stress, according to the study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

As a result of their findings, researchers concluded that there is a need for family-based care for women with breast cancer because of the direct relationship between how well a patient is able to cope with her diagnosis and how well her partner is able to cope.

Researchers suggest that the best way for couples to cope with a diagnosis of breast cancer is to recognize that husbands and wives are both affected by the disease and each is affected by how well the other deals with it.

They should work as a team to counteract the stress related with breast cancer and also help each other remain hopeful about their ability to manage the stress, the researchers said.. They should also try to reduce some of the other stress in their lives so that more energy is available to deal with emotional and physical recovery from the illness.

Other Sources: Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Reuters