The relation of spouse illness representations to patient representations and coping behavior: A study in couples dealing with a newly diagnosed cancer

Abstract

The central role of spouses/partners in patients’ adaptation to cancer is well-established, but few studies have examined how partners facilitate adaptation. The Common Sense Model posits that a representation of illness as more controllable and less threatening promotes adaptive coping, but this has not been examined in a dyadic context. This cross-sectional study examined the relations of spouse illness representations of personal and treatment control, and emotional representations to recently diagnosed cancer patients’ coping behaviors, through patient illness representations. One hundred forty-nine heterosexual couples (39.60% female patients; 77.18% dealing with early stage cancer) participated in the study. Structural Equation Modeling showed that spouse illness representations were related to patient coping directly and indirectly through patient illness representations. Both partners’ representations of control were related to greater patient adaptive coping, and both partners’ emotional representations were related to greater dysfunctional coping. These findings highlight the importance of partner illness representations in patients’ adaptation to cancer. They also suggest that early intervention programs that address both partners’ illness representations may enhance patients’ adaptation to cancer.

Keywords:

• adaptation to cancer
• coping with cancer
• dyadic regulation
• illness representations
• partners

Note

Notes

1 A wider range of illness representations were initially included in the study (e.g., consequences, timeline). However, due to the moderate sample size (please, see Method) and the restrictions which this limitation imposed (i.e., insufficient statistical power to perform the appropriate statistical analyses including all illness representations), we decided to focus on only certain illness representations. Given that the use of ad hoc criteria regarding the type of illness representations to be included in the analyses might be misleading, we took the relevant decision based on the findings of a recent meta-analysis concerning the role of illness representations in adaptation to cancer.⁹