Marital relationship and health-related quality of life after prostate cancer diagnosis

Prostate cancer has an impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients and their spouses. However, the marital relationship at the time of prostate cancer diagnosis is not well known. The aim of the study was to describe and compare the marital relationship of patients with prostate cancer and their spouses and to identify factors associated with HRQoL at the time of diagnosis. The data of this cross-sectional study were collected with The Marital Questionnaire and RAND-36 Item Health Survey scales after the diagnosis of prostate cancer from 232 patients and 229 spouses at five Finnish central hospitals from October 2013 to January 2016. Patients with prostate cancer rated their dyadic satisfaction better than their spouses. Respectively, spouses reported better dyadic cohesion. The marital relationship of the patients or spouses was not associated with demographic variables of the respondents. In patients, energy, emotional well-being and general health were associated with the marital relationship. In spouses, emotional role functioning, emotional well-being and social functioning were explained by the marital relationship. At the time of diagnosis, the marital relationship of patients with prostate cancer and their spouses was good. However, there were differences in associations between patientsu0027 and their spousesu0027 marital relationship and HRQoL. Based on the results of this study, it is useful to take into account the spouses and the marital relationship in the nursing of patients with prostate cancer. The follow-up research on this subject is needed.