Psychological Distress of Latinas With Breast Cancer is Interdependent With Their Supportive Partners' Distress

The aim of this investigation was to estimate the degree of dyadic interdependence in psychological and physical quality of life among Latinas with breast cancer and their supportive partners. A total of 80 dyads (Latinas and their supportive partners) completed quality of life assessments at baseline (T1), T1 + 8 weeks, and T1 + 16 weeks. Quality of life was assessed with measures of psychological (depression, negative affect, stress, and anxiety) and physical (fatigue, symptom distress) well-being. Data was analyzed using multivariate statistics. The typical Latina participating in this study was 47.34 years of age, Mexican American (77.2%), married (67.5%), had less than a high school education (52.6%), income less than $30,000 (72.6%), and was unemployed (60%). The majority of partners were spouses/significant others or female family members. Partners had baseline levels of psychological, but not physical, distress that were indistinguishable from those of the breast cancer survivors. Individual regression analyses were used to estimate slopes that represent the direction and magnitude of change in quality of life measures over the course of the study. Results indicated that Latinas with breast cancer and their supportive partners had interdependent trajectories of all psychological, but none of the physical, quality of life trajectories over the four month duration of the study. Correlations between survivors' and partners slopes were r = 0.34, p < 0.01 for symptoms of depression, r = 0.27, p < 0.05 for anxiety, r = 0.38, p < 0.001 for perceived stress, r = 0.29, p < 0.01 for negative affect, and r = 0.23, p < 0.05 for positive affect. There is substantial interdependence in psychological quality of life among Latinas with breast cancer and their supportive partners. The findings indicate that it is possible to accurately predict the psychological distress of Latinas adjusting to breast cancer by assessing the worsening or improvement of psychological distress in their support networks. The clinical management of psychological distress in Latinas with breast cancer would be enhanced by also providing services to their supportive partners. Lance Armstrong Foundation.