Caserta Michael S, Utz Rebecca L, Lund Dale A
Illn Crises Loss. 2013;21(3):185-202. doi: 10.2190/IL.21.3.b.
Loss due to cancer could predispose surviving spouses or partners to a variety of negative outcomes. Although a terminal prognosis may provide opportunities to prepare for the loss, existing evidence is inconclusive as to whether death expectedness buffers potentially negative bereavement outcomes. Using data from the study, we examined longitudinally outcomes of bereaved individuals whose spouses/partners died from cancer (n = 112) versus other causes (n = 213) while accounting for death expectedness. While most of the cancer deaths were expected, more than half of the non-cancer deaths were not. The lowest levels of depression, grief, and loneliness over time were among those whose spouses/partners died expectedly from causes other than cancer. Cancer-bereavement was as equally distressing as any unexpected death. Future efforts should focus on the mechanisms underlying these outcomes and develop effective and early interventions to those in greatest need.
癌症导致的损失可能会使幸存的配偶或伴侣面临各种负面后果。尽管晚期预后可能为应对损失提供机会，但关于死亡预期是否能缓冲潜在的负面丧亲之痛后果，现有证据尚无定论。利用该研究的数据，我们纵向考察了配偶/伴侣死于癌症的丧亲者（n = 112）与死于其他原因的丧亲者（n = 213）的情况，同时考虑了死亡预期。虽然大多数癌症死亡是可预期的，但超过一半的非癌症死亡是不可预期的。随着时间推移，抑郁、悲伤和孤独程度最低的是那些配偶/伴侣因癌症以外的原因预期死亡的人。癌症丧亲之痛与任何意外死亡一样令人痛苦。未来的努力应聚焦于这些结果背后的机制，并为最需要的人制定有效且早期的干预措施。
