Marital satisfaction and mental health status in patients with breast cancer

Abstract

• BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a common cancer in women that affects femininity and marital life because of side effect of cancer treatments on breast as a sexual organ. The aim of this study was to evaluate the marital satisfaction in patients with breast cancer compared to general population.
• METHODS: In a cross-sectional study we recruited 60 participants in three separated groups. The first group contained breast cancer women, the second one consisted of patients with other cancers and the third group was selected from general population. Marital satisfaction and mental health status of participants were measured by Enriching and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness (ENRICH) questionnaire and 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), respectively.
• RESULTS: ANOVA test analysis did not determine any statistically significant differences between three groups in ENRICH score (P = 0.55) and GHQ-28 as mental health score (P = 0.93). In multivariate analysis after age adjustment, we could not find any statistically significant differences between three groups for ENRICH score and GHQ-28 score.
•  CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of breast cancer patients, there were not any significant differences in marital satisfaction comparing with general population.
• KEYWORDS: Marital Satisfaction, Breast Cancer, Mental Health