This thesis focuses on describing and investigating the experiences of caregivers of individuals with ovarian cancer. Caregivers are an essential part of cancer care, and yet they are not formally recognized as such. The special focus on these caregivers stems from the recognition that ovarian cancer is unique from more commonly studied diseases, with a poor prognosis and frequent recurrences. This thesis sought to study this understudied population. The thesis begins with a scoping review of existing literature that specifically investigated this population. From this study, it was confirmed that few studies had focused on this population, however the mapped literature suggested that these caregivers experienced significant compromises to their quality of life. Some preliminary studies identified a theme that the caregiving experience was influenced by the relationships with healthcare providers. This theme informed the second study of the thesis, that was a cross-sectional, correlational study that sought to recruit partner-caregivers of patients with ovarian cancer, a sample mostly of male-caregivers. This study sought to explore multiple facets of the caregiving experience as part of cancer care using the Cancer Caregiving Tasks, Consequences and Needs Questionnaire, measuring caregiver distress using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and collecting sociodemographic and proxy-reports of the patient’s medical information. A total of 82 partner-caregivers were recruited for the study, and our sample were mostly men, White, affluent and highly educated. Most of their partners were diagnosed with stage III or IV disease, and were treated with both surgery and chemotherapy. This study’s analysis found that caregiving workload, lacking information from healthcare providers, problems with the quality of information and communication with healthcare providers, lacking time for social relations due to caregiving, and needing more help from healthcare providers correlated with distress outcomes. The third investigation sought to further explore these relationships by measuring attachment insecurity, as assessed by a short, modified version of Experiences in Close Relationships Scale. Using the same sample data, hierarchical regression analyses were used to test whether general attachment avoidance or attachment anxiety moderated the relationship between the caregiving experiences and distress outcomes. These analyses revealed that attachment anxiety contributed to a portion of the variance in distress, however the experiences with the healthcare team explained a large portion of the variance of distress. Attachment anxiety was found to play a minor role moderating the relationship between needing more help from healthcare providers and anxiety, and attachment avoidance contributed a very small, moderating role between lack of time for social relations and distress. Together, these studies have demonstrated that caregivers of patients with ovarian cancer are understudied, however they experience significant levels of depression and anxiety. Their distress is highly affected by their reported experiences as part of the cancer care team, regardless of their predisposition to distress through attachment insecurity.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Psychology (Clinical Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2017 / The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of postnatal depression among adolescent mothers. The study was going to achieve this through a comparative approach. Two groups of adolescent mothers were compared. One group’s participants were still in relationships with their partners (child’s biological father), and the other group consisted of single adolescent partners without the child’s biological father, or a romantic partner. The research study was based in the Umhlathuze region, in two local townships, namely, Enseleni and Esikhawini Townships. A total of 100 adolescent mothers from two health care facilities were sampled for the current research study. A quantitative research methodology was adopted, as the study intended to compare nominal variables. A self-selection sampling method was utilised, and a validated tool called the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to collect data. Furthermore, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilised for the purposes of data analysis. The study revealed that there was no evidence of an association between partner availability and postnatal depression among adolescent mothers. However, the limitations of the current research study were acknowledged. The study recommends that a more longitudinal study be conducted, with a closer look at the quality of romantic relations among adolescent couples, and their impact on postnatal health of both adolescent mothers and fathers. / National Research Foundation

Previous researchers have indicated that military deployments have challenged married couples and contributed to relational strain. It has also been found that veterans in marriages lacking intimacy are at risk of psychological problems and suicide. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to fill a gap in existing research by determining if attachment style, likelihood of disclosure, and demographic variables (age, length of marriage, education, race/ethnicity) predicted marital intimacy for heterosexual married male Iraq War veterans. Attachment theory provided a framework for the study, measuring anxiety and avoidance in veterans, which contributed to secure or insecure styles of relating in marriage. Data were collected using an online survey, compiled from the Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationships Structures, the Likelihood of Disclosure Scale, the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships, and individual demographic questions. Participants included 353 male heterosexual veterans belonging to military social media networking sites. Results of a stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that self-disclosure and attachment style were the 2 statistically significant predictors of marital intimacy for Iraq veterans. Further, secure and preoccupied attachment style and high levels of self-disclosure explained 38% of the variance of marital intimacy. Demographic variables did not predict marital intimacy in the current study. Social change implications include identifying veterans at risk of low marital intimacy, providing protection through strengthening couples' intimacy before and after deployment, leading to a potential reduction in veteran suicide.

Three hundred seventy-six college students responded to a measure designed to examine retrospective accounts of the physical affection received during early childhood. The study looked exclusively from the perspective of the adolescent. Assessing the importance of touch in human development, and the role it plays in adult attachment and the ability to form and maintain close and intimate relations with others was the purpose of the study. Six separate measures were used to assess the role of touch in adolescent development: three items from Gupta and Schork to assess physical affection (touch); Simpson's attachment style measure; Gerlsma, Arrindell, Van der Veen, and Emmelkamp's parental warmth measure; and Rosenthal, Gurney, and Moore's Erikson Psychosocial Inventory Scale to assess intimacy. Also, one-item measures to assess trust and parents' marital satisfaction were all utilized in this study. Results confirmed statistically significant relationships between parental warmth and touch, warmth and attachment, and intimacy and attachment. Related literature supported the findings of the study and point to the importance of parental warmth and touch in early childhood for competent social and emotional development during adolescence. Implications of the results and possible areas of future research are discussed.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第20665号 / 医博第4275号 / 新制||医||1024(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 羽賀 博典, 教授 横出 正之, 教授 瀬原 淳子 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

Stress has traditionally been conceptualized as an intrapsychic phenomenon with detrimental effects on one's physiological and psychological health when coping resources are perceived to be inadequate (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). However, empirical findings from the past three decades suggest that stressful life events have crossover effects from one person to another, namely from one romantic partner to the other (Bodenmann et al., 2006). Hence, stress experienced in the context of romantic relationships is now better understood as an interpersonal phenomenon with potential negative interpersonal (i.e., relationship satisfaction) and intrapersonal ramifications (i.e., mental health) for both partners (Papp & Witt, 2010; Randall & Bodenmann, 2009; Rusu et al., 2016). Due to the interdependent nature of couple relationships, romantic partners engage in a joint stress management process called dyadic coping in an attempt to restore individual and relational homeostasis, and buffer against these negative consequences (Bodenmann et al., 2006). Emerging research has found that common dyadic coping (CDC), which is a specific form of dyadic coping that occurs when both partners conjointly work together towards mitigating or resolving stressors experienced as a dyad, is the most salient form of dyadic coping for couples facing stressors (Falconier et al., 2015). The romantic attachment framework has provided valuable direction to researchers in their understanding of couples coping with stress as insecure romantic attachment is well-known to interfere with adequate coping (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016). Given that romantic attachment has been found to be a predictor of relationship functioning and protective factor against mental health disorders (Cassidy & Shaver, 2016; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016), researchers have been increasingly focused on studying the mechanisms by which they are related. While few studies have examined dyadic coping within a romantic attachment framework (Alves et al., 2019; Fuenfhausen & Cashwell, 2013; Levesque et al., 2017; Levey, 2003; Meuwly et al., 2012), far fewer have narrowed the focus to the ways in which CDC may explain the development of interpersonal (i.e., relationship satisfaction) and intrapersonal outcomes (i.e., mental health) using dyadic data analyses. The unique nature of CDC therefore necessitates research elucidating its role in these links within and between romantic partners. Therefore, the present thesis expands the existing literature on CDC through a romantic attachment lens in two independent yet complimentary studies. The objective of the first study was to evaluate how CDC mediates the relationship between insecure romantic attachment (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and relationship satisfaction among couples in good health sampled from the community. The objective of the second study was to examine the potential mediational effects of CDC on the association between insecure romantic attachment (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and mental health indicators of depression and anxiety among couples in which one partner has a diagnosis of cardiac illness. The first study was an investigation of the interpersonal process of CDC as a potential mediator of the association between insecure romantic attachment (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and relationship satisfaction. The sample consisted of 187 heterosexual couples (N = 374 individuals) from the community. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) was used to assess actor, partner, and direct and indirect effects. Results revealed that the higher men were on attachment avoidance, the less likely they and their partner were to engage in joint coping efforts, which in turn appeared to make men less satisfied with their romantic relationship. However, the degree to which avoidantly attached women felt satisfied with their romantic relationship was solely influenced by their own CDC. Results also showed that the higher men and women were on attachment avoidance, the less they engaged in joint coping efforts, which in turn made them less satisfied with their relationship. Results also revealed that the higher men (but not women), were on attachment anxiety, the less they engaged in CDC, which in turn made men less satisfied with their relationship. Lastly, the higher men were on attachment avoidance (but not women), the less their partner engaged in joint coping efforts, which in turn made men less satisfied with their relationship. In the second study, we examined the potential mediational effects of CDC on the relationship between insecure romantic attachment (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) and mental health outcomes (i.e., depression and anxiety). The sample consisted of 181 patients and their spouses (N = 362 individuals), where one of the partners had received a cardiac diagnosis. An APIMeM was used to test hypothesized relations. While the hypothesized mediations were not confirmed, our results provide partial support to the tested model since patient and spouse attachment anxiety were significantly related to their own mental health. Results also showed that patient and spouse attachment avoidance were associated both with their own and their partner's CDC.

The current study explored whether childhood bullying has a lasting impact on the quality of adult romantic relationships. A complete case analysis of 86 participant responses examined the association between bullying, insecure attachment, romantic relationship satisfaction, and trust. The findings partially supported study hypotheses. Specifically, a significant positive correlation between social manipulation, a type of bullying, and avoidant attachment was found. Physical victimization was also positively correlated with trust. However, no significant association between bullying and relationship satisfaction was found. Exploratory multiple regression analysis showed that both physical victimization and romantic relationship satisfaction predict the level of trust experienced in a romantic relationship. Additional research is warranted in this area of interpersonal functioning.

No description available.

No description available.