Darabos Katie, Manne Sharon L, Devine Katie A, McHugh Sean, Desbiens Shannon
Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.
Rutgers Cancer Institute, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
Psychooncology. 2025 Aug;34(8):e70248. doi: 10.1002/pon.70248.
Cancer among young adult (YA) couples is a profoundly distressing experience, extracting a significant toll on YA couples' relationships (e.g., with partners, family, friends). It is well recognized that effective communication within social relationships is critical for fostering well-being among couples coping with cancer. Despite this, limited research exists focused on communication and support needs among YA couples.
Through qualitative semi-structured interviews, we explored the unique needs and experiences of YA couples with a focus on communication and support within their relationship and with their social support networks.
Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with YA couples. YA survivors were eligible if they were diagnosed with cancer as a young adult (aged 18-39) within the past 5 years. Relevant themes in literature guided the development and use of semi-structured interview guides.
Content-structuring qualitative analysis was used to identify themes. Across 15 YA couples, four main themes emerged: dyadic communication, dyadic relationship changes, social support network challenges and opportunities, and resource needs.
Results highlight YA couples' communication and support needs that are central, and external, to the couple. These findings elucidate how YA couples navigate the cancer experience together, highlighting experiences, needs, and concerns that are central to the developmentally off-time nature of cancer during their relationship. Additionally, results have implications for intervention development focused on communication and support among this vulnerable and underrepresented YA couple population.
年轻成年（YA）夫妻患癌是一种极其痛苦的经历，会对YA夫妻的关系（如与伴侣、家人、朋友的关系）造成重大影响。人们普遍认识到，社会关系中的有效沟通对于帮助患癌夫妻提升幸福感至关重要。尽管如此，针对YA夫妻沟通和支持需求的研究却很有限。
通过定性半结构化访谈，我们探讨了YA夫妻的独特需求和经历，重点关注他们关系内部以及社会支持网络中的沟通与支持。
对YA夫妻进行了15次半结构化访谈。如果YA幸存者在过去5年内被诊断为年轻成年（18 - 39岁）患癌，则符合入选条件。文献中的相关主题指导了半结构化访谈指南的制定和使用。
采用内容结构化定性分析来确定主题。在15对YA夫妻中，出现了四个主要主题：二元沟通、二元关系变化、社会支持网络的挑战与机遇以及资源需求。
研究结果突出了YA夫妻关系核心及外部的沟通和支持需求。这些发现阐明了YA夫妻如何共同应对患癌经历，凸显了在他们关系中癌症这一与发展阶段不符的情况所带来的核心经历、需求和担忧。此外，研究结果对针对这一脆弱且代表性不足的YA夫妻群体的沟通和支持干预措施的制定具有启示意义。
