COPING WITH BREAST-CANCER FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES

In a cross-sectional study, 36 breast cancer patients and their husban ds provided information about how each recalled coping with stress dur ing a course of radiation therapy. Both spouses also were asked to rep ort on one another's coping efforts and to provide information about t heir own current psychological adjustment and marital satisfaction. Th e results indicated that wives engaged in more extensive and varied co ping efforts than their husbands did and that the coping strategies wh ich husbands and wives used were largely independent. Consistent with numerous other studies, self-reported coping related to one's own outc omes. The authors also found significant crossover associations betwee n the coping reports of one spouse and the other spouse's outcomes: hu sbands' outcomes were somewhat more strongly correlated with their wiv es' reports of their own coping than vice versa. A similar pattern of findings emerged for the coping data provided by one spouse about the other. These data suggest that to understand more fully the link betwe en cancer and psychosocial adjustment after treatment, researchers sho uld consider the coping of spouses as well as patients.