[Chronic disease impact on partners. An explorative study].

In the last years there has been a growing interest of researchers for themes dealing with chronic illness and issues related to that condition. Several authors have studied the difficulties caregivers have to cope with, especially when the patient's partner has this role. That condition would have both physical and psychological consequences, but its real effects seem to depend on a complex set of interacting elements. On the basis of these researches, in the current study we aimed to explore the influence of adult attachment and marital satisfaction on the impact that chronic illness can have on patient's partner and on his/her health-related quality of life. The sample is composed of 40 chronic renal failure patients' partner-caregivers. Each caregiver filled in a battery of tests for finding out the characteristics of adult attachment and marital satisfaction, health-related quality of life and the association between these variables and the impact of chronic illness on partners. Descriptive statistics, correlations and one-sample t test analysis have been performed. Results show a significant correlation between attachment style and caregiving burden; there are no gender differences in disease impact on caregiver. Moreover caregivers seem to have a worse quality of life in comparison to general population. Understanding caregiving can lead, at a future time, to planning specific interventions for both patients and partners, using a global and integrated approach that respects individuals and couples in their biologic, psychological and relational dimensions.