Ana Torres (Masters student), Christina Bryant, Lesley Stafford
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This study is a component of the larger study investigating quality of life and supportive care needs in survivors of gynaecological cancer and their partners. The specific aim of this substudy is to investigate the role of attachment styles in determining couples' supportive care needs and relationship adjustment in the years following treatment for gynaecological cancer.
Attachment theories state that when a person feels a psychological or physical threat, care seeking behaviours are activated in order to achieve protection and support from their attachment figure. In the case of the patient with cancer, the partner represents this figure. Partners however, may find it more difficult to receive protection and support when their attachment figure is unable to provide the care that they are seeking. The quality of support and protection provided by the attachment figure influences the perception that the individual has of the quality of the relationship.
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The hypotheses of this study are that
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| Partner participants will have higher levels of unmet needs than patient participants;
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| | Partner participants will perceive a lower level of relationship satisfaction than patient participants; and
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| | The impact of unmet need on relationship satisfaction in partner participants with an insecure attachment style will be greater than that in partner participants with a secure attachment style.
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Affiliations:
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Christina Bryant
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Centre for Women's Mental Health, Royal Women's Hospital , Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne
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Lesley Stafford
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Centre for Women's Mental Health, Royal Women's Hospital , University of Melbourne Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry
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