Background
Individuals with cancer and their partners often experience communication difficulties. However, questions still remain regarding the influence of gender and role in cancer survivor-partner communication within couples.
Objective
The current study intended to examine the communication patterns in breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer survivor-partner couples during cancer survivorship and whether gender and role differences in couples communication exist.
Methods
The dominant-less dominant methods of sequential mixed design was utilized. Ten couples who were recruited from the University Hospital registry in Cleveland, Ohio participated in both mail surveys and individual interviews. Family and cancer-related communication was assessed in the quantitative phase.
Results
Both male survivors and partners demonstrated better family communication scores compared to their female counterparts, whereas there were no gender differences in the cancer-related communication scores. In the qualitative phase, 3 major themes were identified: 1) selective sharing of cancer-related issues, 2) initiation of cancer-related communication, and 3) emotional reaction in communication. The patterns associated with these themes differed between the male survivor-female partner and female survivor-male partner couples.
Conclusions
This study provides new knowledge about family and cancer-related communication. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding different perspectives in the quality of communication by gender and role.
Implications for Practice
Exploring couples' communication patterns by gender and role stimulates the research and the development of effective consumer-centered communication interventions. The findings provide assessment tools to inform dyadic communication patterns for clinical and scientific purposes.