Gardner Daniel S
Silver School of Social Work, New York University, NY, NY 10003, USA.
J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care. 2008;4(2):135-59. doi: 10.1080/15524250802353959.
Ambiguity in the dying experience can be a major source of stress for older couples who must often balance the provision of care with respect for autonomy, aggressive treatment with quality-of-life, and individual with dyadic understandings and preferences. This study explores patterns of relationship, support, and communication in married or partnered couples where one partner is diagnosed with advanced and terminal cancer. Thirty-five older spousal/partner dyads participated in focused, semistructured interviews about relational aspects of their illness experiences. Faced with often uncertain and ambiguous circumstances, cancer patients and their partner caregivers describe the individual and dyadic processes that they have engaged in as they approach the end of life. Implications are highlighted for future research and practice with older adult couples at the end of life.
临终体验中的不确定性可能给老年夫妇带来巨大压力，他们常常需要在提供照料与尊重自主权、积极治疗与生活质量、个体理解与二元理解及偏好之间进行权衡。本研究探讨一方被诊断患有晚期及终末期癌症的已婚或伴侣关系中的夫妻的关系模式、支持情况及沟通方式。35对老年配偶/伴侣参与了关于其疾病经历关系方面的重点半结构化访谈。面对往往不确定且模糊的情况，癌症患者及其伴侣照料者描述了他们在接近生命终点时所经历的个体及二元过程。研究强调了这些发现对临终老年夫妇未来研究及实践的启示。
