Spousal Support, Emotional Disclosure, and Adjustment to Head and Neck Cancer

Badr博士的长期目标是开发一个多方法研究计划，以研究应对癌症的夫妇的心理，社会和身体功能。K 07奖将使Badr博士能够通过提供设计和实施夫妻互动协议、编码技术和二元数据分析方面的培训，为实现这一目标迈出必要的第一步。具体而言，培训计划包括：（1）正式课程;（2）赞助者和合作者的定期指导;（3）参加研讨会和国家会议;（4）专家辅导;（5）指导研究;（6）临床实践。巴德尔博士的博士后培训，她的指导团队的专业知识，和M的研究环境相结合。D.安德森将促进拟议研究的成功实施。本研究计划致力于实施一个独立的项目，该项目整合了婚姻和心理肿瘤学文献，以研究配偶沟通对头颈癌（HNC）患者及其配偶的认知处理、关系满意度和生活质量（QOL）的影响。具体目标是：（1）检查夫妻沟通风格之间的关联（例如，患者和伴侣的披露、患者和伴侣对癌症相关问题的隐瞒、伴侣对患者披露的积极和消极情感反应）以及患者和伴侣的认知处理;（2）使用自我报告和观察方法检查夫妇的沟通风格之间的关联（例如，患者和伴侣的披露、患者和伴侣对癌症相关问题的隐瞒、伴侣对患者披露的积极和消极情感反应）以及患者和配偶的心理功能（例如，治疗后4个月，使用自我报告和观察方法，检查患者症状困扰，患者披露和患者认知处理在HNC放射治疗过程中的相关性。该应用程序解决了国家癌症研究所的持续承诺，制定举措，以了解癌症对家庭的影响，并在其多方法的方法是独一无二的。总的来说，这项研究的结果将使我们能够确定适应和适应不良的配偶互动模式在HNC，为未来的心理干预HNC患者及其合作伙伴提供潜在的目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Badr's long-term goal is to develop a multi-method research program to study psychological, social, and physical functioning in couples coping with cancer. The K07 award will enable Dr. Badr to take the necessary first steps toward this goal by providing training in the design and implementation of couples' interaction protocols, coding techniques, and the analysis of dyadic data. Specifically, the training plan includes: (1) formal course work; (2) regular mentoring from sponsors and collaborators; (3) participation in seminars and national conferences; (4) tutorials by experts; (5) mentored research; and (6) clinical practice. The combination of Dr. Badr's post-doctoral training, the expertise of her mentoring team, and the research environment of M. D. Anderson will facilitate the successful implementation of the proposed study. This research plan is devoted to the implementation of an independent project that integrates the marital and psycho-oncology literatures to study the effects of spousal communication on cognitive processing, relationship satisfaction, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and their spouses. Specific aims are to: (1) examine associations between couples' communication styles (e.g., patient and partner disclosure, patient and partner holding back of cancer-related concerns, partner positive and negative affective responses to patient disclosure) and patient and partner cognitive processing, using self report and observational methods; (2) examine associations between couples' communication styles (e.g., patient and partner disclosure, patient and partner holding back of cancer-related concerns, partner positive and negative affective responses to patient disclosure) at the initiation of treatment and patient and spouse psychological functioning (e.g., distress) and general QOL 4 months after treatment, using self-report and observational methods; and, (3) to examine associations between patient symptom distress, patient disclosure, and patient cognitive processing over the course of radiation treatment for HNC. This application addresses the National Cancer Institute's continuing commitment to developing initiatives to understand the impact of cancer on the family, and is unique in its multi-method approach. Collectively, the outcomes of this study will allow us to identify adaptive and maladaptive spousal interaction patterns in HNC, providing potential targets for future psychosocial interventions for patients with HNC and their partners.