Emotional distress and subjective impact of the disease in young women with breast cancer and their spouses

Aim: Evaluate the influence of emotional distress of young women with breast cancer and their spouses on their daily subjective experience of the disease, through application of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Patients & methods: A total of 112 women under 45 years of age were diagnosed with nonmetastatic breast cancer and their spouses answered self-reported measures of anxiety, depression and subjective experience of the disease and its treatment. Results: The patient's emotional distress influenced more the subjective experience of her spouse than the spouse's emotional distress influenced the patient. The spouse's difficulties depended as much on his own distress level as on the patient's distress level. Conclusion: These data confirm the importance of implementing couple-focused interventions.