PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY Psycho -Oncology 9: 232–242 (2000) COUPLES DEALING WITH CANCER: ROLE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES REGARDING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND QUALITY OF LIFE MARIE  T HAGEDOORN a, *, BRAM P. BUUNK a , ROELINE G. KUIJER b , THEO WOBBES c and ROBBERT SANDERMAN a a Uniersity of Groningen, Netherlands b Health Psychology, Utrecht Uniersity, Netherlands c Academic Hospital St. Radboud, Uniersity of Nijmegen, Netherlands SUMMARY The goal of the present study was to further knowledge on gender and role (i.e. patient versus partner) differences in psychological distress and quality of life as a consequence of dealing with cancer. There is some evidence that being the patient or the caregiver makes more difference for men than for women. In total, 173 couples facing various forms of cancer (two samples) and a control group of 80 couples completed the CES-D and Cantril’s Ladder. Analyses of variance revealed that both female patients and female partners of patients perceived more psychological distress and a lower quality of life than women in healthy couples. In contrast, role did have an effect on men. Specifically, male patients scored as high on psychological distress and as low on quality of life as female patients and female partners, but psychological distress and quality of life did not differ between male partners of patients and their healthy controls. However, this effect was found in only one patient sample. The finding that female partners perceived more psychological distress and a lower quality of life than male partners could not be accounted for by differences in the physical condition of the patient or the partner. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION A severe illness, such as cancer, not only affects lives of patients, but also the lives of those who are close to them. Patients may become highly psychologically distressed and may perceive a low quality of life resulting from the fear of dying, a worsening physical condition, painful treatments, and side effects of such treatments. At the same time, their partners may perceive psychological distress and low quality of life because of the fear of losing their loved one, and because of possible burdens, such as the provision of care and sup- port, and restrictions regarding their social life. Not only do both partners have to deal with their own emotions and problems resulting from the illness, they also have to cope with each other’s problems, emotions and fears (Coyne et al., 1990; Coyne and Smith, 1991). The findings on distress in cancer patients and their partners are inconsistent. In several studies, intimate partners were found to be as distressed as patients (e.g. Northouse and Swain, 1987; Oberst and Scott, 1988; Baider et al., 1996). In a study by Given and Given (1992), husbands of patients with recurrent breast cancer reported even more depressive symptoms than their wives. However, other studies among couples dealing with breast cancer showed lower levels of distress for the husbands than for the patients (Hoskins, 1995; Northouse et al., 1998). Moreover, the current literature in this area has a number of limitations. First, couples’ adjustment to cancer has been most frequently examined among patients with breast cancer and their spouses. As a conse- quence, it is impossible to conclude whether dif- ferences in psychological distress and quality of life between patients and partners are a result of * Correspondence to: University of Groningen, Social and Organizational Psychology, Grote Kruisstraat 2/I, 9712 TS Groningen, Netherlands. Tel.: + 31 50 363 64 60/363 63 86; e-mail: M.Hagedoorn@ppsw.rug.nl Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Receied 28 June 1999 Accepted 6 March 2000