Posttraumatic Growth, Dyadic Adjustment, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Husbands

Seunghee Song; Eunjung Ryu

doi:10.4040/jkan.2014.44.5.515

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Song and Ryu: Posttraumatic Growth, Dyadic Adjustment, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Husbands

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing 2014; 44(5): 515-524.

Published online: 31 October 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2014.44.5.515

Posttraumatic Growth, Dyadic Adjustment, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Husbands

Seunghee Song¹, Eunjung Ryu²

¹National Cancer Center, Goyang·Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea.

²Department of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Ryu, Eunjung. Department of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heuksuk-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-756, Korea. Tel: +82-2-820-5681, Fax: +82-2-824-7961, go2ryu@cau.ac.kr

Received 22 April 2014 Revised 2 May 2014 Accepted 18 August 2014

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/) If the original work is properly cited and retained without any modification or reproduction, it can be used and re-distributed in any format and medium.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify whether the couple perceived breast cancer as a traumatic event, to evaluate the association among posttraumatic growth, dyadic adjustment, and quality of life and to explore the predictors affecting quality of life of the couple.

Methods

A cross-sectional comparative survey design was utilized. Participants were 57 couples recruited from a national cancer center in Korea. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, McNemar test and independent t-test. On the basis of variables found to be significantly associated with quality of life, multiple regression was used to examine the simultaneous influence of multiple predictors.

Results

Breast cancers survivors and spouses perceived breast cancer as a traumatic event (43.9% and 24.6%, respectively). The global quality of life was explained by perception as trauma (β=-19.79) and posttraumatic growth (β=0.46) in survivors, and perception as trauma (β=-18.81) and dyadic adjustment (β=0.53) in spouses.

Conclusion

Results suggest that future research should use qualitative methods to evaluate why contemplating reasons for cancer contributed to posttraumatic growth, examine other potential predictors of quality of life such as dyadic adjustment and intimacy, and identify links between posttraumatic growth and other psychological outcomes such as distress and well-being, using prospective analyses.

Keywords: Breast cancer, Survivors, Spouses, Adjustment, Quality of life

Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Scatter plot for study variables between breast cancer survivors and their spouses.

Table 1

General Characteristics and Disease Characteristics of Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Spouses

^*The variable has missing values.

Table 2

Study Variable Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Spouses

EORTC QLQ-C30=European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30; GHS=Global health status.

Table 3

Comparison of Study Variables between Trauma and Non-trauma Groups in Survivors and Their Spouses

^*High scores indicate higher levels of functioning; ^†Higher scores indicate higher levels of symptoms; EORTC QLQ-C30=European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30;EORTC QLQ-BR23=European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Breast Cancer23.

Table 4

Factors Influencing Global Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Spouses

Notes

This manuscript is based on a part of the first author's master's thesis from Chung-Ang University.

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