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Gender and Role Differences in Couples Communication during Cancer Survivorship
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Background Individuals with cancer and their partners often experience communication difficulties. However, questions still remain regarding the influence of gender and role in cancer survivor-partner communication within couples. Objective The current study intended to examine the communication patterns in breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer survivor-partner couples during cancer survivorship and whether gender and role differences in couples communication exist. Methods The dominant-less dominant method of sequential mixed design was used. Ten couples who were recruited from the University Hospital registry in Cleveland, Ohio, participated in both mail surveys and individual interviews. Family and cancer-related communication was assessed in the quantitative phase. Results Both male survivors and partners demonstrated better family communication scores compared with their female counterparts, whereas there were no gender differences in the cancer-related communication scores. In the qualitative phase, 3 major themes were identified: (1) selective sharing of cancer-related issues, (2) initiation of cancer-related communication, and (3) emotional reaction in communication. The patterns associated with these themes differed between the male survivor-female partner and female survivor-male partner couples. Conclusions This study provides new knowledge about family and cancer-related communication. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding different perspectives in the quality of communication by gender and role. Implications for practice Exploring couples' communication patterns by gender and role stimulates the research and the development of effective consumer-centered communication interventions. The findings provide assessment tools to inform dyadic communication patterns for clinical and scientific purposes.
- Subjects :
- Cancer survivorship
Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
MEDLINE
Breast Neoplasms
Article
Statistics, Nonparametric
Interpersonal relationship
Quality of life (healthcare)
Sickness Impact Profile
medicine
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Registries
Survivors
Spouses
Qualitative Research
Aged
Gynecology
Analysis of Variance
Oncology (nursing)
business.industry
Age Factors
Gender Identity
Prostatic Neoplasms
Middle Aged
University hospital
United States
Survival Rate
Oncology
Communication Intervention
Needs assessment
Quality of Life
Female
business
Colorectal Neoplasms
Needs Assessment
Qualitative research
Clinical psychology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....e6170d421e8f55411ae702b8ca1f6d83