Adjustment to cancer: who is the patient--the husband or the wife?

The adjustment of 117 cancer patients and their spouses was studied from self-reports. The patients were all in remission and at the time of assessment were not receiving any treatment. The adjustment of the patients was generally good, with no great differences between the types of cancer (breast, colon and testicular). The spouses reported as many adjustment problems as the patients, with high intracouple agreement. The findings of the present study suggest that adjustment is influenced by the gender of the patient, especially of the spouse.