Relationship between mindfulness and general health among couples in Mainland China: A crossover perspective

RATIONALE

Previous research has indicated that mindfulness can be beneficial both intrapersonally and interpersonally. Although mindfulness has been shown to improve an individual's health, much less is known about whether these health benefits extend to the individual's spouse.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aims to establish a crossover model to expound ''how'' and ''why'' mindfulness might be associated with both the individual's and the spouse's general health.

METHODS

In total, 319 married couples in Mainland China participated in a two-wave survey study with a 3-month interval. The hypotheses were tested by Structural Equation Modeling.

RESULTS

As expected, mindfulness was positively correlated with personal general health through decreases in perceived social undermining. However, mindfulness had an asymmetrical crossover effect on spouses' general health. Whereas wives' mindfulness had significant benefits for husbands' general health, husbands' mindfulness was not a significant protective factor of wives' general health. The benefits of wives' mindfulness on husbands' general health were mediated by the direct crossover of lower perceived social undermining from wives to husbands.

CONCLUSIONS

This study is the first to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and general health at the couple level. Our findings help clarify the benefits of mindfulness on couples' health management from a systemic perspective and provide further support for the crossover theory.

Partner interfering behaviors affecting cancer quality of life

Objective

Because partners are an important and unpaid resource in cancer care, understanding how destructive, controlling or interfering partner behaviors influence women's cancer care may be particularly relevant for health care providers seeking to provide cancer care and enhance recovery. Using a new measure of partner interfering behaviors in cancer care (PIB‐C), we investigated whether women with a recent cancer diagnosis who additionally endorsed any PIB‐C would report (a) more symptoms of depression and stress, and (b) lower Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT‐G) and lower Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy‐Spiritual Well‐being (FACIT‐SP) scale scores indicating poorer quality of life (QOL).

Methods

Women aged 18–79 included in cancer registries as having an incident, primary, biopsy‐confirmed cancer in the past 12 months were eligible for this study. Consenting women completed a phone interview 9–12 months following cancer diagnosis between 2009 and 2015. Interviews provided data to measure outcomes (perceived stress and depressive symptoms, FACIT‐SP and FACT‐G scores), partner supportive and interfering behaviors, and other potentially confounding factors.

Results

Of the 2376 women in a relationship at cancer diagnosis, 14.7% endorsed one or more of 14 PIB‐C items. Women endorsing any PIB‐C item reported more symptoms of depression and stress and lower FACT‐G and FACIT‐SP scores than partnered women reporting no PIB‐C even when controlling for partner supportive behaviors and lifetime intimate partner violence. Increasing PIB‐C scores were also correlated, in a dose–response pattern, with these same outcomes.

Conclusions

Partner interfering behaviors during cancer care impact patients' QOL across multiple domains. © 2016 The Authors. Psycho‐Oncology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.