The husband's untold account of his wife's breast cancer: a chronologic analysis

Abstract

Purpose/objectives: To identify husbands' perceived needs related to their wives' breast cancer and their view of how they can be helped to deal with the resultant challenges.

Design: Descriptive, qualitative.

Setting: Biobehavioral observational laboratory of a large urban research institute.

Sample: Nine husbands of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, with a mean length of time since diagnosis of 2.4 years.

Methods: Two focus groups with five participants in the first and four in the second. Focus group questions were designed to facilitate the husbands' reports of their experiences.

Main research variables: The husbands' view of their lived experience with their wives' breast cancer and challenges across the illness trajectory; the content and process of how best to help them to deal with the challenges.

Findings: Husbands expressed their own personal and emotional concerns as well as a desire to support their wives. They asked for help to deal with their own personal concerns and to learn strategies to assist their wives with their experiences.

Conclusions: Husbands' concerns related to their wives' breast cancer changed across the illness trajectory. Husbands' misunderstandings about their own personal emotions hindered their ability to provide support to their wives. Expectations stemming from the male gender role guided husbands' attempts to provide emotional support to their wives that was complicated by an awareness of their inability to meet their wives' needs.

Implications for nursing practice: An urgent need exists for nurses to adjust individual practices and develop programs that address husbands' concerns in the time frame in which they are experienced. Husbands must be explicitly included as participants in their wives' journey and allowed opportunities to express and deal with personal concerns apart from their wives.