Grant Number:	5R03CA136080-02 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Laurenceau, Jean-Philippe
Organization:	University Of Delaware
Project Title:	Studying the Daily Lives of Couples Coping with Breast Cancer
Fiscal Year:	2010

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women worldwide. American women have a 1 in 8 lifetime probability of developing BC. Nevertheless, death rates from BC have steadily decreased since 1990 and women are surviving longer with the disease. Thus, health care professionals face a new set of challenges beyond decreasing mortality: helping BC patients, survivors, and their family members cope with the cancer experience. The effects of BC diagnosis and treatment occur in an interpersonal context. Recent research has documented that BC diagnosis and treatment affect the patient's spouse/partner as well as the couple's relationship functioning. However, most of this research has involved global, cross-sectional assessments that can obfuscate our understanding of interpersonal processes. In addition, this research has usually relied on retrospective reports by both patients and their spouses/partners. There are several problems with retrospective reports, including systematic recall biases associated with concurrent mood and/or psychological adjustment. To address these problems, and to capture behavior and mood "in the moment," health researchers are beginning to use diary designs to assess the daily functioning of medical patients. None of this research has focused on BC patients and their spouses/ partners in the same study. One likely reason for this is the unknown feasibility of applying a diary methodology to couples coping with cancer. The primary purpose of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of an electronic daily diary methodology for research with BC patients and their spouses/partners. Within a few weeks after surgery, BC patients and their spouses/partners will complete a battery of questionnaires. Then, for 10 consecutive nights, BC patients and their spouses/ partners will complete surveys via personal digital assistants (PDAs) that assess their daily experiences, mood, and social support processes. Feasibility of this electronic diary methodology will be evaluated in terms of the percentage of couples who agree to participate in the study and the percentage of participating couples who complete the PDA-based survey each night. The electronic diary methodology will also be used to test two dyadic hypotheses for couples coping with BC. The first focuses on the effect of perceived and received support on the daily adjustment of BC patients and their spouses/partners. The second focuses on day-to-day transmission of emotion between BC patients and their spouses/partners.




The longitudinal course of emotional and cognitive factors of fear of cancer recurrence in breast cancer patients and their partners.
Authors: Otto A.K. , Soriano E.C. , LoSavio S.T. , Siegel S.D. , Perndorfer C. , Fenech A.L. , Laurenceau J.P. .
Source: Psycho-oncology, 2022-02-28 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2022-02-28 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 35226385
Related Citations

Social constraints and fear of recurrence in couples coping with early stage breast cancer.
Authors: Soriano E.C. , Pasipanodya E.C. , LoSavio S.T. , Otto A.K. , Perndorfer C. , Siegel S.D. , Laurenceau J.P. .
Source: Health Psychology : Official Journal Of The Division Of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2018 Sep; 37(9), p. 874-884.
PMID: 30138023
Related Citations

Partner Social Constraints And Early-stage Breast Cancer: Longitudinal Associations With Psychosexual Adjustment
Authors: Soriano E.C. , Otto A.K. , Siegel S.D. , Laurenceau J.P. .
Source: Journal Of Family Psychology : Jfp : Journal Of The Division Of Family Psychology Of The American Psychological Association (division 43), 2017-02-16 00:00:00.0; , .
PMID: 28206777
Related Citations

Effects Of A Randomized Gratitude Intervention On Death-related Fear Of Recurrence In Breast Cancer Survivors
Authors: Otto A.K. , Szczesny E.C. , Soriano E.C. , Laurenceau J.P. , Siegel S.D. .
Source: Health Psychology : Official Journal Of The Division Of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2016 Dec; 35(12), p. 1320-1328.
PMID: 27513475
Related Citations

Capitalizing on everyday positive events uniquely predicts daily intimacy and well-being in couples coping with breast cancer.
Authors: Otto A.K. , Laurenceau J.P. , Siegel S.D. , Belcher A.J. .
Source: Journal Of Family Psychology : Jfp : Journal Of The Division Of Family Psychology Of The American Psychological Association (division 43), 2015 Feb; 29(1), p. 69-79.
PMID: 25528074
Related Citations

Social Constraints On Disclosure Predict Daily Well-being In Couples Coping With Early-stage Breast Cancer
Authors: Pasipanodya E.C. , Parrish B.P. , Laurenceau J.P. , Cohen L.H. , Siegel S.D. , Graber E.C. , Belcher A.J. .
Source: Journal Of Family Psychology : Jfp : Journal Of The Division Of Family Psychology Of The American Psychological Association (division 43), 2012 Aug; 26(4), p. 661-7.
PMID: 22686265
Related Citations

Daily Support In Couples Coping With Early Stage Breast Cancer: Maintaining Intimacy During Adversity
Authors: Belcher A.J. , Laurenceau J.P. , Graber E.C. , Cohen L.H. , Dasch K.B. , Siegel S.D. .
Source: Health Psychology : Official Journal Of The Division Of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2011 Nov; 30(6), p. 665-73.
PMID: 21823795
Related Citations

Affective Differentiation In Breast Cancer Patients
Authors: Dasch,K.B. , Cohen,L.H. , Belcher,A. , Laurenceau,J.P. , Kendall,J. , Siegel,S. , Parrish,B. , Graber,E. .
Source: Journal Of Behavioral Medicine, 2010 Dec; 33(6), p. 441-53.
PMID: 20585976
Related Citations

The Neuronal Microrna Mir-326 Acts In A Feedback Loop With Notch And Has Therapeutic Potential Against Brain Tumors
Authors: Kefas B. , Comeau L. , Floyd D.H. , Seleverstov O. , Godlewski J. , Schmittgen T. , Jiang J. , diPierro C.G. , Li Y. , Chiocca E.A. , et al. .
Source: The Journal Of Neuroscience : The Official Journal Of The Society For Neuroscience, 2009-12-02 00:00:00.0; 29(48), p. 15161-8.
PMID: 19955368
Related Citations