Difficulties in Communicating with Female Breast Cancer Patients with regard to Marital Relations : about Male Partners'

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Japanese women. As patients with breast cancer have a lower level of mental health than healthy individuals, it is most important that they have the support of their partners to adapt to everyday life. However, 3 years after diagnosis the mental health of partners of breast cancer patients is lower than that of the patients. Few studies have examined the difficulties partners may have after their wife has been diagnosed as breast cancer. The aims of this study on partners of breast cancer patients were to investigate (l) the percentage of partners who needed information and advice services, and sympathetic support, (2) difficulties in marital communication regarding the illness, and (3) the relationship between the characteristics and difficulties in marital communication about the illness. The partners completed self-administered questionnaires (n=368). The results showed more than one-half of the partners needed support on information services (67.1 %), advice services (63.9 %), and sympathetic support (56.5%). At the time of diagnosis 66.6% of the partners had trouble grasping what his wife wanted and what he could do for her. These difficulties declined over time, however, 10-30% of partners had continuing problems regarding marital communication about the illness. Difficulties in marital communication about the illness were shown to be associated with recurrence of breast cancer, use of anticancer drug therapy, and a partner's previous experience with cancer. It is therefore necessary to provide partners who have these characteristics with information regarding marital communication about breast cancer.