Adult Attachment, Social Support, Anxiety and Quality of Life of Spouses of Women with Breast Cancer
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Lin, Ya-Huei
Abstract
Cancer accounts for the highest mortality in Taiwan, and female breast cancer occurs the most among all kinds of cancer. Suffering from the life-threatening disease, spouses are main caregivers most of the time. If the spouses are maladaptive, they could not provide high quality of support to the patient. Even spouses may also become maladjusted; both of the situations impact the family.
According to Bowlby’s attachment theory (1969/1982, 1973), such pressure situation will arouse attachment system of individuals, and the evaluations of pressure and perceptions of social support are affected by different attachment conditions. While social support is a key attribution for adaptation, people who perceive more social support maintain better adjustment when it comes to pressure events. Breast cancer impacts the intimate relationship between the spouses and the patients. The situation will arouse spouses’ attachment system and affect their perceived social support, which could influence their adaptation.
Since spouses play important roles in disease trajectory, and they suffer from breast cancer as patients do; consequently, the present study did survey at a ward of a teaching hospital in Taipei city with self-report questionnaires. These inventories were filled twice at an interval of one to three months.
The inventories applied in the present study were reliable and verified. The level of education, family income, religion and level of pressure have different relationships with anxiety and quality of life at different time. Social support is a moderator between perceive pressure and anxiety, and it is a mediator between avoidant attachment and quality of life.
Based on the result, the researcher discussed the limitations of the present study, suggestions for clinical practice and for future research. Professionals could identify the spouses at higher risk of psychological disorders in early stage, and provide tailored interventions to facilitate the well-beings of the spouses, patients and families, reducing the impact of breast cancer on the family.
Subjects
Breast Cancer Patient
Spouse
Attachment
Social Support
Anxiety
Quality of Life
SDGs
Type
thesis
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