{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.017825311942959002, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.932098765432099, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Couples Facing Cancer

Cancer survivors experience significant physical, psychological, and social challenges that contribute to poor quality of life. Intimate partners provide critical care and support across the cancer continuum, but they report psychological distress, lack basic healthcare knowledge and skills, and experience increased tension and conflict in their relationships with survivors. Couple-based interventions hold great promise in cancer because they can simultaneously address survivor, partner, and relationship concerns. However, they are seldom implemented in healthcare settings as part of routine care. This chapter will therefore integrate what research has taught us about couples and cancer and what we have learned from couples in the clinical setting. We begin with an overview of challenges faced by couples across the cancer continuum, including biopsychosocial stressors. Next, we describe different perspectives that have shaped descriptive and intervention research on couples’ psychosocial adaptation to cancer. We conclude with clinical implications and directions for future research.