Stress and situationally related coping in cancer out-patients and their spouses

In this exploratory study, 30 couples, of which one partner had cancer, were tested with a questionnaire developed for evaluating the occurrence and degree of severity of physiological, psychological and psychosocial stressors. The questionnaire, filled out by the two partners separately, appeared to succeed well in documenting the types of stressors both the patient and the spouse deemed relevant, It also appeared to provide an integrated picture of the patient's and the spouse's reactions to the patient's stress, considered in terms of emotional appraisal, cognitive appraisal, coping intentions and coping. Spouses were found to attribute greater psychological/psychosocial stress to the patients than the patients did themselves and to reflect greater uncertainty in their appraisal of concrete stress situations Their environment-directed coping suggested that the spouses had the ability to control uncertamty in a manner allowing them to direct their efforts outwards in a desired direction. The questionnaire was seen as potentially useful for judging what psychological and psychosocial interventions are appropriate in such cases.