title: Psychological distress and cognitive coping in pregnant women diagnosed with cancer and their partners.
abstract: A cancer diagnosis during pregnancy may be considered as an emotional challenge for pregnant women and their partners. We aimed to identify women and partners at risk for high levels of distress based on their coping profile.
  
  
  
  Sixty-one pregnant women diagnosed with cancer and their partners filled out the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and the newly constructed Cancer and Pregnancy Questionnaire (CPQ). K-means cluster analysis was performed on the CERQ scales. Scores on the CPQ were compared between the women and their partners and between the CERQ-clusters.
  
  
  
  Comparison of women and partners on the CPQ did not reveal significant differences on distress about the child's health, the cancer disease, and the pregnancy or on information satisfaction (P = .16, P = .44, P = .50, and P = .47, respectively). However, women were more inclined to maintain the pregnancy than their partners (P = .011). Three clusters were retrieved based on the CERQ scales, characterized by positive coping, internalizing coping, and blaming. Women and partners using internalizing strategies had significantly higher scores on concerns about the child's health (P = .039), the disease and treatment (P < .001), and the pregnancy and delivery (P = .009) compared with positive and blaming strategies. No cluster differences were found for information satisfaction (P = .71) and tendency to maintain the pregnancy (P = .35).
  
  
  
  Women and partners using internalizing coping strategies deal with the highest levels of distress and may benefit from additional psychosocial support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Gynecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tineke
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vandenbroucke
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Gynecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sileny N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kristel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Van Calsteren
authors.affiliation: Methodology and Statistics Research Unit, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Wilderjans
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bea R H
authors.initials: BRH
authors.lastname: Van den Bergh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Faculty of Medicine and Mental Health (CAPRI), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Claes
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Gynecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amant
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic / Q000523:psychology*; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: cancer; cognitive coping; cognitive emotion regulation; distress; oncology; pregnancy