Patients’ coping profiles and partners’ support provision

Abstract

This study explored whether 13 coping strategies exhibited in the week after cancer surgery could be aggregated into a smaller number of meaningful coping profiles. Moreover, patients’ coping profiles and genders were examined as predictors of partners’ support provision in the month after surgery. Coping strategies were measured with Brief COPE questionnaire, and provided partner support was assessed with Berlin Social Support Scales. Cluster analysis based on 321 patients yielded three distinct coping patterns: Accommodative Coping, Disengaging Coping, and Assimilative Coping. These encapsulate ways and extent of coping during the week after cancer surgery. Accommodative Coping was characterized by low levels of active problem-directed strategies but a high degree of acceptance and humour, whereas Assimilative Coping represented positive reframing and active strategies. Based on 122 couples, associations between patients’ coping profiles and subsequent spousal support provision were examined. Partners provided least support to patients in the Accommodative Coping category and most support to patients in the Assimilative Coping category. Female partners provided more support than did male partners. Patients’ coping behaviours in the week after cancer surgery affected subsequent provision of support by their partners.

Keywords:

• Social support
• spouses
• cancer
• dyadic coping
• partner effects

Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to the following cooperation partners in four Berlin hospitals and tumor treatment centers for their support of the study: Rotraut Asche-Messerschmidt, Bartholomäus Böhm, Konstanze Bössenrodt, Heinz-Johannes Buhr, Christoph-Thomas Germer, Alfred Holzgreve, Tido Junghans, Martina Lang, Joachim Müller, and Peter Neuhaus. The authors are also grateful to Charis Förster, Nihal E. Mohamed, Ute Schulz, and Steffen Taubert of the Coping with Surgery Research Team at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Denis Gerstorf is now at the University of Virginia, Department of Psychology, on a Research Fellowship awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Sonja Boehmer is now at the University of Sussex, Department of Psychology, as a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.