Marital Adjustment and Loneliness Status of Women With Mastectomy and Husbands Reactions

Abstract

Aim: The present descriptive analysis of breast-cancer women with mastectomy surgery was conductedto assess husband partner compatibility and level of loneliness during the post-surgery period. Materials andmethods: The study was carried out in Ondokuz Mays University, Medical Faculty surgical clinic. A sampleof 48 women with mastectomy and 44 husbands were included in the study. A questionnaire form, the dyadicadjustment scale, and UCLA loneliness scale were used to process the data. Descriptive statistics, correlations,Mannhitney U and Kruskalallis tests were used for data analysis with the SPSS 13.0 statistical package forWindows. <br/><b>Results</b>: It was determined that the education background of husbands influenced marital adjustment,this being better with a high school or further diploma. Husbands who described their marriage as bad afterthe surgery had higher marital adjustment scores (p<0.01). A connection was found between loneliness statusof participant women and their marital adjustment (r=0.373; p=0.009). Similar findings were obtained fortheir husbands (r=0.412; p=0.005). <br/><b>Conclusion</b>: At the end of this research, women with mastectomy and theirhusbands described their marital relations before the surgery as good but as bad after the surgery. Women withmastectomy and their husbands stated that they did not feel lonely before or after the surgery. It is critical thatnursing initiatives be arranged in line with health training on marital adjustment and loneliness and psychosocialapproaches and communications are adjusted to meet the needs of women and husbands.