Marital Quality and Quality of Life Among Cancer Patients and Their Spouses
Titel:
Marital Quality and Quality of Life Among Cancer Patients and Their Spouses
Auteur:
Swensen, Clifford H. Fuller, Steffen
Verschenen in:
Journal of psychosocial oncology
Paginering:
Jaargang 10 (1993) nr. 3 pagina's 41-56
Jaar:
1993-02-22
Inhoud:
Research on the quality of life of cancer patients has stressed the significance of social support from their marital relationship. In this study, patients and spouses were asked to assess their current marital relationship and how they remembered it as being before the cancer diagnosis. Marital quality was assessed by interactional style, level of intimacy, and coping with problems. Personality was assessed by measuring stage of ego development: preconformist, conformist, and postconformist. The study produced two major findings. First, affiliation with the spouse had the highest correlation with the patients' quality of life, whereas coping with problems had the highest correlation with the spouses' quality of life. Second, patients who were at the postconformist stage of ego development were most likely to report that their marital relationship had become stronger over the course of their illness. The study carries implications for the structuring of differential psychosocial interventions for patients and spouses and for individuals at different levels of ego development.
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