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christian counseling today
Vol. 20 no. 4
Male Spouses of Women
with Breast Cancer
Jones, J.M., Lewis, F.M., Griffith, K., Cheng,
T., Secord, S., Walton, T., Bernstein, L.J.,
Maheu, C. & Catton, P. (2013). Helping Her
Heal-group: A Pilot Study to Evaluate a Group
Delivered Educational Intervention for Male
Spouses of Women with Breast Cancer.
Psycho-Oncology
, 22, 2102-2109. Doi:
10.1002/pon.3263.
This was a pilot study of a support
group for male spouses of women who
were being treated for breast can-
cer. Jennifer Jones and her colleagues
recruited 54 male spouses through their
wives (N = 54) who were patients at
a hospital in Toronto. The husbands
participated in a Helping Her Heal-
group program that was an adapta-
tion of a protocol derived from Albert
Bandura’s work as a social psycholo-
gist and another model of adjustment
to breast cancer. Husbands and wives
both completed pre- and post-inter-
vention measures, as well as three-
month follow-ups. Forty-one couples
completed follow-up assessments
post-intervention.
Results suggest a moderate increase
in skills, such as self-care and support
for their wives, as well as improved feel-
ings of self-efficacy. Husbands were also
interviewed and those transcripts were
analyzed. Themes that emerged from
qualitative analysis suggest improved
communication and listening skills,
better insight into their spouse’s experi-
ence and the value of self-care. In the
area of communication, one husband
shared, “I’ve learned a lot about effec-
tive listening…. That was the biggest
revelation to me, and also a big chal-
lenge. I’m taught to think and rea-
son things out. I understand that is
a very good way to approach physics
and the mechanical world, but it’s not
necessarily the best way to approach
human relations” (p. 2,106).
This was a pilot study with encour-
aging findings. A larger study that
focused on efficacy is the next step, but
these results certainly provide support
for the potential benefit of educational
groups for male spouses of women diag-
nosed with cancer.
Social Identity
in Recovery Groups
Buckingham, S.A., Frings, D. & Albery,
I.P. (2013, April 15). Group Membership
and Social Identity in Addiction Recovery.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors
, Advance
online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0032480.
Sarah Buckingham and her colleagues
considered both social identity theory
and self-categorization theory in an
interesting set of studies of group mem-
bership and social identity. In Study
1, they looked at 61 participants in a
mutual aid support group for alcohol
and narcotics (Alcoholics Anonymous
and Narcotics Anonymous). Study 2
was of 82 ex-smokers.
Study 1 examined the social identi-
ties of “recovering addicts” and “addicts”
among participants in these mutual
aid support groups. They were look-
ing at identity preferences and differ-
ences on self-efficacy and outcomes,
such as relapse. The label itself was not
as important as the preference for that
label: “The greater the preference for
‘recovering addict’ identity compared
to the ‘addict’ identity, the higher the
level of reported self-efficacy” (p. 5).
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Mark A . Yarhouse , Psy.D.
research digest
Self-help and Mutual-aid Support Groups
