Stress and situationally related coping in cancer out-patients and their spouses

In this exploratory study, 30 couples, of which one partner had cancer, wer e tested with a questionnaire developed for evaluating the occurrence and d egree of severity of physiological, psychological and psychosocial stressor s. The questionnaire, filled out by the two partners separately, appeared t o succeed well in documenting the types of stressors both the Patient and t he spouse deemed relevant. It also appeared to provide an integrated pictur e of the patient's and the spouse's reactions to the patient's stress, cons idered in terms of emotional appraisal, cognitive appraisal, coping intenti ons and coping. Spouses were found to attribute greater psychological/psych osocial stress to the patients than the patients did themselves and to refl ect greater uncertainty in their appraisal of concrete stress situations. T heir environment-directed coping suggested that the spouses had the ability to control uncertainty in a manner allowing them to direct their efforts o utwards in a desired direction. The questionnaire was seen as potentially u seful for judging what psychological and psychosocial interventions are app ropriate in such cases. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.