Educational Counseling in Improving Communication and Quality of Life in Spouses and Breast Cancer Patients

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To test whether the intervention has a beneficial effect on spouses' outcome variables.

II. To test whether the intervention has a beneficial effect on ill partners (patients')
outcome variables.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

ARM I: Participants receive the "What's Happening to the Woman I Love?" booklet, which
focuses on ways to understand and deal with marital communication and relationship issues
arising from breast cancer diagnosis.

ARM II: Participants undergo the Helping Her Heal educational counseling program comprising 5
1-hour sessions 2 weeks apart.

SESSION I: Participants learn stress management skills and discover ways stress affects
themselves and their partner.

SESSION II: Participants practice attentive listening and reduce the tendency to try to
distract patients from talking about sad or difficult aspects of the cancer experience.

SESSION III: Patients learn to help their spouse talk when she is quiet or withdrawn, to add
to their understanding of what she is thinking and feeling, and to add to their ways of
supporting her during especially difficult times with the cancer.

SESSION IV: Participants learn strategies for physically reconnecting with spouses.

SESSION V: Participants review skills from prior sessions, identify strategies he or she will
continue to use to manage their personal stress, and identify ways to maintain connection and
support.

After completion of study, patients are followed up at 3 and 6 months.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Spouses (in both heterosexual couples and same-sex couples) of women diagnosed within
the past 6 months with stage 0, I, II or III breast cancer (in situ/local/regional
disease) will be eligible to participate, as will the diagnosed wife/partner

- Spouses and patients must be married or cohabiting for at least 6 months

- Spouses and patients must have English as one of their languages of choice (they can
be multilingual)

- Spouses and patients must live within 25 miles of the University of Washington (UW)
study center

- Spouses/partners must be willing to give a sample of blood and/or sputum at time of
first and second data collections

Exclusion Criteria:

- Woman diagnosed with stage IV or recurrent breast cancer or who is > 6 months
post-diagnosis

- Woman and/or spouse not able to read and write in English

- Spouses could not participate if the ill partner refused participation