Managing chronic illness, especially something like cancer, affects more than the diagnosed person. Cancer also affects partners, families, and loved ones. In our study, we were interested in how cancer affects communication patterns between survivors and their partners. We wanted to apply a model that explains chronic illness management in couples to see if we could determine how parts of a relationship, uncertainty about cancer prognosis, and the confidence people have in talking with partners about the cancer affect couples’ ability to manage the disease
