Spousal and dyad coping are important factors in a patient's adjustment to breast cancer.

The aim of this study was to determine whether a strong sense of coherence as a coping strategy affects burnout in health social workers. The research sample consisted of 31 social workers in the field of physical illness, 21 in the field of mental illness, and 29 in the field of the handicapped. The main finding indicates that health social workers who have a strong sense of coherence experience less burnout than those with a weak sense of coherence. More specifically, the findings indicate that the manageability component of sense of coherence predicts emotional exhaustion.

This study assessed bereavement aspects among 69 widowed spouses (mean age = 61.1; 36.2% men) of deceased cancer patients. They completed questionnaires related to psychological distress as measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory (L. R. Derogatis, 1975a), psychosocial adjustment as measured by the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (L. R. Derogatis, 1975b), grief as measured by the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (T. Faschingbauer, S. Zisook, & R. Devaul, 1987), and communication with spouse (D. H. Olson, D. G. Fournier, & T. M. Druckman, 1982). The findings indicated that women, older people, and past grief were variables that contributed to levels of current distress and grief. The widowed sample as a group showed high levels of distress, suggesting marked vulnerability and the need for planned intervention.

The International Classification of Diseases 11th Version (ICD-11) will include Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) as a unique diagnostic entity comprising core PTSD and DSO (disturbances in self-organization) symptoms. The current study had three aims: (1) assessing the validity of CPTSD in a unique population of male perpetrators of intimate partner violence; (2) examining whether exposure to different types of traumatic events would be associated with the two proposed CPTSD factors, namely PTSD or DSO; and (3) assessing the differential association of various sociodemographic and symptom characteristics with each factor. Participants were 234 males drawn randomly from a sample of 2600 men receiving treatment at 66 domestic violence centers in Israel. Data were collected using the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) - Hebrew version. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial validity of ICD-11 CPTSD. Cumulative lifetime trauma and physical childhood neglect were associated with PTSD and DSO, while cumulative childhood violence exposure was associated only with DSO. Anxiety was associated only with DSO; depression more strongly with DSO than PTSD. Religious level contributed only to PTSD; compulsory military service only to DSO. The study supports the distinction between PTSD and DSO in the CPTSD construct and introduces the role of cultural variables.

The study compares the perception of the burden of caregiving on the part of 64 elderly cancer patients, their spouses and children. The patients were being treated at two oncological medical centers in northern Isreal. Two factors taken from Whitlach’s analysis of the Zarit burden scale were used: role strain and personal strain. Spouses rated higher levels of burden in both factors, as well as in total, than either the patients or the children, with the differences between them reaching statistical significance in personal strain and total burden.