Abstract
The aim of this study was to gain insight into the quality of life (QoL) and stress
response of female spouses of men cured of testicular cancer in the long-term. Time
since treatment completion varied from 0.5 to 23.8 years. Two hundred and fifty nine
testicular cancer survivors and their spouses completed the Dutch version of the MOS
Short Form (SF)-36 and the Impact of Event Scale. QoL data from a reference group
of women were used for comparison. Spouses who had relationship with the testicular
cancer survivor before the diagnosis (spouses during testicular cancer) had better
functioning scores than the reference group, especially with respect to the physical
QoL domains. Spouses who had started a relationship after treatment (spouses after
testicular cancer) experienced more problems with psychological QoL domains than spouses
during testicular cancer and than the reference group. The stress response of spouses
during testicular cancer was related to that of the testicular cancer survivors and
to the extent of treatment they had received. Although stress response levels were
low, spouses during testicular cancer reported more stress response than the testicular
cancer survivors. Time since completion of treatment did not affect QoL or stress
response. This study showed that spouses during testicular cancer had a good QoL and
little stress response. Functioning of spouses after testicular cancer was poorer
with respect to various QoL domains, particularly the psychological measures.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 16,
2004
Received:
January 30,
2004
Footnotes
☆This research was supported by a Grant from the Dutch Cancer Society, No. RUG 99-2130.
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
