Validation of the couples' cancer communication scale
A diagnosis of breast cancer powerfully challenges a couple’s relationship. Couple illness communication is one way couples offer each other mutual support, allowing for better illness adjustment. However, in the existing literature, few scales explicitly measure couple illness communication. The goals of the present study were to validate the Couple Cancer Communication scale (CCC) and to examine the association between CCC and cancer-related adjustment outcomes. Patients (N = 120) and their spouses (N = 109) were interviewed regarding their experience with breast cancer. A two factor solution was retained for the CCC scale, avoidance and openness to communication. It demonstrated good convergent validity with the Primary Communication Inventory (r = .54, p <.01 for patients; r = .55, p <.01 for partners). Finally, the CCC scale significantly predicted both depression (Δr² = 0.029) and marital adjustment (Δr² = 0.032) scores above and beyond general communication. With further development, the CCC could be a useful tool as an assessment measure in a life-threatening disease. The present scale, in conjunction with other sources of information, could be used in future research and clinical settings when attempting to assess illness-related communication and related outcomes.
Couple Communication Validation Breast Cancer Couple Communication Validation Marital Adjustment Depression