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. 2014 Dec;22(12):3209-17.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-014-2334-9. Epub 2014 Jul 4.

The dyadic effects of coping and resilience on psychological distress for cancer survivor couples

Jung-Won Lim  1 , En-Jung Shon, Minso Paek, Barbara Daly
Affiliations

The dyadic effects of coping and resilience on psychological distress for cancer survivor couples

Jung-Won Lim et al. Support Care Cancer. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the actor and partner effects of coping and resilience characteristics on psychological distress in cancer survivors and their spouses and to examine the mediating role of resilience characteristics in the relationship between coping and psychological distress.

Methods: A total of 91 breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer survivor-spouse dyads were recruited from the University Hospital Registry in Cleveland, Ohio. Standardized questionnaires that assessed psychological distress, reframing and acquiring social support coping, and resilience characteristics were used.

Results: The actor-partner interdependence mediation model demonstrated that the resilience of the survivors and spouses was a strong predictor of their personal psychological distress. Survivors' and spouses' own resilience mediated the association between their reframing coping and psychological distress. However, only the survivor model confirmed the mediating effect of resilience characteristics in the relationship between social support coping and psychological distress. In addition, spouse psychological distress was influenced by survivor resilience, indicating a spouse-partner effect in the relationship between resilience characteristics and psychological distress.

Conclusions: Our findings provide insight into the relationships between coping, resilience characteristics, and psychological distress at the individual and dyadic levels. Enhancing cancer survivors' and their spouses' positive thoughts and available external resources can improve resilience and, in turn, reduce their psychological distress of couples coping with cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interests:

None of the sponsors played any role in the study design, the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to submit it for publication. We have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review our data if requested.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The Dyadic model of coping, resilience, and psychological distress
Note. Solid lines refer to significant paths at p<0.05; dotted lines refer to non-significant paths at p<0.05; double line refers to a different result by types of coping; AE=Actor effect; PE=Partner effect; Survivor PE=a survivor’s outcome is influenced by his/her partner’s scores; Spouse PE=a spouse’s outcome is influenced by his/her partner (survivor)’s scores.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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