Dyadic communication quality and family resilience in gynecologic cancer survivors: a study on the mediating role of perceived spousal support

Purpose: To analyze the level of family resilience in Chinese gynecological cancer survivors and determine whether perceived spousal support plays a mediating role in the relationship between dyadic communication quality and family resilience, enhance the confidence of families in coping with the disease together, and thus promote psychosocial adaptation to cancer. Methods: A total of 348 gynecologic cancer survivors were selected from a gynecologic ward in a public hospital in Shandong Province, China. All participants completed the Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics Questionnaire, Couples' Communication Quality Scale (CCQS), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), and Family Hardiness Index (FHI). The mediating effect of perceived spousal support was estimated using the bootstrap method via IBM SPSS AMOS 21.0. Results: The mean FHI score was 53.03 +/- 9.34 points, showing moderate levels of family resilience. Family resilience was shown to be significantly positively associated with both perceived spousal support and dyadic communication quality (both p < 0.01). Furthermore, perceived spousal support was shown to partially mediate the relationship between communication quality and family resilience (beta = 0.141; 95% confidence interval: 0.063-0.243). Conclusion: The level of family resilience in survivors of gynecologic cancer needs to be further improved, and perceived spousal support partially mediates the relationship between dyadic communication quality and family resilience within this population. Therefore, dyadic communication quality and subjective perceived spousal support should be enhanced for gynecologic cancer survivors to increase their family resilience.