Partner understanding of the breast and prostate cancer experience

Purpose: This exploratory study was designed to examine partners' understan ding of patients' experience with prostate or breast cancer and to assess t he congruence between patient and partner perceptions regarding social supp ort and the cancer experience. Methods: Partner understanding of patient mood was assessed by comparing th e Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire scores of patients with the P OMS scores of their partners (who were instructed to complete the questionn aire as patient proxies). A semistructured interview with corresponding que stions for patients and partners assessed the congruency between patient an d partner perceptions regarding social support and the cancer experience. Results and Conclusions: Twenty-three couples participated. Eight couples w ere woman with breast cancer and their husbands, and 15 couples were men wi th prostate cancer and their wives. The patients with breast cancer and the ir partners were on average age of 48 years and had been married for 20 yea rs, while the patients with prostate cancer and their partners were 67 year s of age and had been married for 40 years, on average. Overall, female par tners possessed a more accurate understanding of their husbands' experience with prostate cancer than male partners had of women's breast cancer exper ience. These men tended to overestimate the breast cancer patients' self-re ported levels of distress. Patient and partner perceptions regarding social support in the relationship and the cancer experience were also more congr uent in prostate couples than in breast couples. This may be a factor not o nly of gender but also of age and the length of time that these couples had been together, which was twice as long for the prostate couples. Overall, however, patients were well adjusted and felt understood by their partners and satisfied with the support their partners provided.