PLoS One. 2015 Jul 29;10(7):e0133837.
Regan T, Levesque JV, Lambert SD, Kelly B.
In this Australian study 20 oncology-based health care professionals (HCPs) and 20 couples (one of which had been diagnosed with cancer) had semi-structured interviews either face-to-face or by telephone. HCPs included medical oncologists, nurses, psycho-oncology professionals, most with over 10 years’ experience. Couples had been together for a mean of 37 years, two-thirds of the patients were male, with a mean time from diagnosis of 14 months. Interviews were analysed using the framework approach.
Three core themes were identified by integrating themes from HCP and couple interviews: 1) “How Do Couples Cope with Cancer?” emphasised the positive and negative aspects of coping together used by couples, and highlighted that partners perceived a lack of engagement by HCPs. Both patients and partners had to cope with many emotions following diagnosis, including fear, anger, and shock, however helplessness was particularly evident for partners. 2) “What Is Couple-focused Psychosocial Care for People with Cancer?” most HCPs felt there was value of extending psychosocial support to include both patients and their partners as a means of improving quality of life. Whereas most couples did not perceive a need for specialist couple-focused support and interventions. 3) “How Can Couple-Focused Psychosocial Care be Improved?” combines the importance of the relationship with oncologists and that couples needed more information. HCPs were not confidence in managing couples’ emotional needs, and challenges identifying distress and referring for specialist assessment.
Overall there were discrepancies about couple-focused psychosocial care between HCPs and couples, and HCPs from different professional backgrounds. In general couples and HCPs thought a couple-focused approach to psycho-social support was beneficial but the majority of couples did not feel they needed specific couple-focused interventions.
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