title: Interdependent psychological quality of life in dyads adjusting to prostate cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prostate cancer negatively influences quality of life (QOL) in survivors and the people with whom they are close. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the degree of dyadic interdependence in psychological QOL in dyads adjusting to prostate cancer and its treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 70 prostate cancer survivors and their partners, most of whom were spouses. Assessments of psychological QOL (i.e., depression, anxiety, fatigue, and positive affect) were made at three points in time, each separated by 8 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survivors' prostate specific function was associated with both their own and their partners' psychological QOL. There was evidence of longitudinal dyadic interdependence for psychological QOL, particularly from partners to survivors between the T2 and T3 assessments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prostate cancer survivors' psychological QOL is affected substantially by their partners' psychological QOL, consistent with theories of emotional contagion.
authors: Department of Communication, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. segrin@u.arizona.edu
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Segrin
authors: Terry A
authors: TA
authors: Badger
authors: Joanne
authors: J
authors: Harrington
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety; D001008:Anxiety Disorders; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D004644:Emotions; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012747:Sexual Partners; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*