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A New Technique for Treating Low-risk Prostate Cancer—Super Active Surveillance
Published on: November 7, 2025
Shared possible selves, other-focus, and perceived wellness of couples with prostate cancer
Stephanie J Wilson1, Mary Jon Barrineau1, Jonathan Butner2
1Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract:
Shared possible selves are associated with better well-being in couples through their engagement in and enjoyment of collaboration (Schindler, Berg, Butler, Fortenberry, & Wiebe, 2010). The present study sought to address which partner's other-focus accounted for this sharedness in possible selves and how the individual and dyadic configurations of other-focused selves relate to health and well-being (i.e., perceived wellness) in an important health context for adult couples-prostate cancer. Sixty-one men diagnosed with prostate cancer and their wives rated their own subjective physical health and well-being and listed possible selves. Possible selves were reliably coded for the inclusion of the other (i.e., other-focus), either with the other as the subject or communal in content. Regression analysis showed that wives' other-focus, not husbands', explained variance in shared selves. A Bayesian actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) of both partners' other-focus and interaction between the 2 revealed a pattern that differed by partner. The association between husband other-focus and his perceived wellness was negative for husbands whose wives were low in other-focus and not significant for husbands with highly other-focused wives. Women's sense of perceived wellness did not relate to either partner's other-focus. Results support the notion that shared possible selves may be shared unequally in couples facing chronic illness and suggest the importance of considering both partners' other-focus to understand perceived wellness. Findings may point to more general processes of relational adaptation to major life stressors such as prostate cancer.
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