Couple-based treatment for sexual problems following breast cancer: A review and synthesis of the literature

Abstract

Based on this review, the authors address clinical implications, particularly incorporating psychological treatment for sexual problems in comprehensive cancer care, and provide recommendations for further study.

A systematic review of characteristics of couple‐based intervention studies addressing sexuality following cancer

“…The issue of sexuality in patients with cancer has been addressed in previous reviews. However, they have mainly included patients with breast or gynaecological cancer or prostate‐testicular cancer (Abbott‐Anderson & Kwekkeboom, ; Carpentier & Fortenberry, ; Carroll, Baron, & Carroll, ; Chisholm, McCabe, Wootten, & Abbott, ; Emilee, Ussher, & Perz, ; Gilbert, Ussher, & Perz, ; Nelson, Emanu, & Avildsen, ). Many of the studies in these reviews did not address the needs of the couple and only provided minimal information on methodological shortcomings adversely affecting the quality of results.…”

“…These can be summarized into four themes: (1) improving communication skills; (2) facing the consequences of cancer treatment on sexuality; (3) relationship adaptation; and (4) identifying/restructuring negative beliefs about sexual activities. Previously, it has been suggested that merging elements of education, mutual coping support and sex therapy tend to produce stronger effects in alleviating sexual concerns after cancer than more narrowly focused sexual interventions (Carroll et al., ; Scott & Kayser, ). A huge setback that we observed in studies involving a control group was that the authors did not elaborate on how the experimental intervention diverged from usual care.…”

“…The issue of sexuality in patients with cancer has been addressed in previous reviews. However, they have mainly included (Abbott-Anderson & Kwekkeboom, 2012;Carpentier & Fortenberry, 2010;Carroll, Baron, & Carroll, 2016;Chisholm, McCabe, Wootten, & Abbott, 2012;Emilee, Ussher, & Perz, 2010;Gilbert, Ussher, & Perz, 2011;Nelson, Emanu, & Avildsen, 2015).…”

Couple therapy, family therapy and systemic interventions for adult‐focused problems: the current evidence base

“…Relationship‐focused family interventions tended to be more effective than exclusively educational interventions. These conclusions are consistent with those of other reviews of studies of systemic interventions for families of individuals with a wide variety of medical conditions (Baucom et al ., ; Campbell and Patterson, ; Martire, ; Reed and Harding, ), and for reviews focusing exclusively on cancer (Badr and Krebs, ; Baik and Adams, ; Brandão et al ., ; Carroll et al ., ; Hopkinson et al ., ; Li and Loke, ; Northouse et al ., ; Wang et al ., ) and HIV/AIDS (Crepas et al ., ; Jiwatram‐Negrón and El‐Bassel, ). These findings suggest that systemic services for people with chronic illnesses deserve development as part of multimodal programmes for people with such conditions.…”

Eficacia de la terapia de pareja con pacientes con cáncer: una revisión sistemática

“…Las preocupaciones sobre la salud, la sexualidad y el malestar emocional a menudo están relacionadas con los efectos secundarios del tratamiento contra el cáncer incluso hasta años después del tratamiento (2) ; existe la necesidad de intervenciones que aborden esta problemática y parece que aquellas intervenciones que incluyen la terapia de pareja son más efectivas, ya que toda la problemática repercute en la relación de pareja (3) . Además, es probable que tanto los problemas de relación íntima como el malestar emocional de la pareja interfieran en la salud psicosexual de los pacientes (4) , de ahí la importancia de abordar esta problemática.…”