Communication, coping, and quality of life of breast cancer survivors and family/friend dyads: a pilot study of Chinese-Americans and Korean-Americans

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to understand the dyadic relationships between family communication and quality of life (QOL) and between coping and QOL in Chinese-American and Korean-American breast cancer survivor (BCS)-family member dyads.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of 32 Chinese-American and Korean-American BCS-family member dyads were recruited from the California Cancer Surveillance Program and area hospitals in Los Angeles County, California, USA. The dyadic data were analyzed using a pooled regression actor-partner interdependence model.

Results: The study findings demonstrated that the survivors' general communication and use of reframing coping positively predicted their own QOL. The survivors' and family members' general communication was also a strong predictor of the family members' physical-related QOL score specifically. Meanwhile, each person's use of mobilizing coping negatively predicted his or her partner's QOL.

Conclusions: The study findings add important information to the scarce literature on the QOL of Asian-American survivors of breast cancer. The findings suggest that Chinese-American and Korean-American BCS and their family members may benefit from interventions that enhance communication and coping within the family unit.

Keywords: Asian-Americans; breast cancer survivors; dyadic relationship; family communication; family coping; quality of life.

Figure 1. The Effects of Family Coping and Communication on QOL

Note. a=survivor actor effect; b=family actor effect; c=survivor-partner effect; d=family-partner effect; PCS=Physical component summary; MCS=Mental component summary; predictors include communication (i.e., general and cancer-related communication) and family coping (i.e., acquiring social support, mobilizing the family to acquire and accept help, seeking spiritual support, and reframing).