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Background: Partners of cancer patients are the cornerstone of supportive cancer care. They assume different roles and responsibilities that optimally support the patient. Such support is highly demanding, and many partners report (mental) health problems. However, many of them do not use professional supportive care themselves. Offering a Web-based self-help intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and self-compassion could be an important resource to support this group. This qualitative study aimed to examine user-experiences with a Web-based self-help intervention based on ACT and self-compassion among partners of cancer patients.Methods: Individual in-depth interviews, about partners' appreciation of the intervention and lessons learned, were conducted with 14 partners of cancer patients who used the Web-based self-help intervention. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed by three independent coders both deductively and inductively.Results: In general, partners appreciated the intervention, however, they also expressed ambivalent feelings towards peer support, the content of the feedback of their counselor, and the 'tunneled' structure of the intervention. The majority of the partners reported being more self-compassionate accepting that they experienced negative thoughts and feelings, they reported that they learned to increase the distance between their thoughts and themselves, they indicated being more aware of their personal values, and they thought that they were better able to commit to those values. They also reported other (non-specific) helpful processes such as insight and acknowledgement, positivity, the possibility to tell their story, time for themselves, and feeling closer and more connected with their partner (the patient).Conclusions: Partners of cancer patients indicated to appreciate the Web-based self-help intervention based on ACT and self-compassion. They felt that the intervention helped them to cope with negative emotions, thoughts, and one's suffering; to practice self-kindness; and to clarify values based on difficult recent experiences. In addition, they felt that the intervention supported them to obtain insight and acknowledgement, positivity, to tell their story, make time for themselves, and feeling closer and more connected with the patient. We think that a Web-based psychological intervention based on ACT and self-compassion may be a valuable contribution in supporting partners of cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a growing recognition that cancer not only affects the lives of the patients, but also the lives of their partners. Partners of cancer patients are highly involved in the illness trajectory by providing informal care and they often experience distress. However, supporting interventions for this group are scarce and existing interventions bear several limitations. On the basis of the need for theory- and evidence-based supportive interventions for partners of cancer patients, the web-based self-help intervention Hold on, for each other has been developed. This intervention is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The primary objective of the RCT is to investigate the (cost-) effectiveness of the intervention. Additional goals are (1) to examine if psychological flexibility, self-compassion, mastery, supportive behavior, posttraumatic growth and resilience are mediators of the intervention's effects on the partners' mental health; (2) to examine the moderating effects of the socio demographics (age, gender, education, working situation, family situation) and disease-related characteristics of the patients (sort of cancer, stage of disease, duration and treatment of cancer); and (3) to investigate to what extend participants are satisfied with the intervention, which parts of the intervention are mostly used, and how adherent the users are. Methods/Design: A three-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to compare two versions of the intervention Hold on, for each other with a waiting list control condition. Both intervention conditions contain the same content and differ only with regard to the form of professional support (personal support versus automatic support). Adult partners of cancer patients with mild to moderate depressive and anxiety symptoms, will be recruited through a multi-component strategy. Online measurements by self-assessment will be made on four measurement points (prior to randomization (baseline-measurement) and 3, 6 and 12 months after baseline). Discussion: When proven effective, Hold on, for each other can be an invaluable contribution to the healthcare system and it could be offered to all partners of cancer patients who are in need for additional support. Trial registration: Dutch Trial Register, trial registration number NTR4035, date of registration: 17 March 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]