title: Functional impairment, marital quality, and patient psychological distress as predictors of psychological distress among cancer patients' spouses.
abstract: This study investigated contextual determinants of psychological distress among 197 spouses of cancer patients. It was hypothesized that higher levels of patient functional impairment would lead to greater patient distress. Patient distress, in turn, would lead to lower spouse marital satisfaction and ultimately to higher spouse distress. Spouses completed measures of distress and marital quality at three time points. Cancer patients rated their functional impairment and psychological distress at the same time points. Results indicated that at all time points, greater patient impairment was associated with higher levels of patient distress, which, in turn, was related to lower marital satisfaction. However, marital quality was related to spouse distress at only 1 time point, but spouse distress was directly associated with patient distress at each time point. Implications for cancer patients and spouses are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Population Science, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania 19012, USA. cy_fang@fccc.edu
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Manne
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Pape
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires