Dyadic Coping of Patients with Hematologic Malignancies and Their Partners and Its Relation to Quality of Life (original) (raw)

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study were (1) to identify healthy and unhealthy patterns of coping strategies after bereavement among spouses of cancer patients and (2) to explore the characteris-BACKGROUND: Whereas a grief-related disorder tapping prolonged disabling reactions might be included in the DSM 5, the mechanisms underlying it remain poorly described. Some studies highlighted the risk for bereaved spouses after a cancer to develop this disorder, especially when reporting an insecure attachment. However no qualitative study explores associations between attachment styles and adjustment to grief in this population. This study aims at enhancing knowledge about the delineation of this debilitating condition. METHOD: The interview of a male widower (57 years) of a cancer patient, presenting a disorganized attachment and meeting at 6 months post-death the criteria for PGD (Inventory of Complicated Grief, Prigerson et al., 1995) was subjected to an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA, Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). This standardized analysis targets the meaning making processes with regards to attachment styles. RESULTS: Three inter-related master themes are presented: (1) Forgetting, and continuing bonds;