Divorce Disparities After Cancer

November 8, 2009

We know that a cancer diagnosis can put pressure on relationships, but new research suggests that when a woman is diagnosed, divorce is 6 times more likely when compared to situation in which a man is diagnosed. The researchers who performed the analysis suggest that men are more likely to be scared of the wife's life-threatening illness. This is scary stuff, but like a lot of survivorship information, this is only the tip of the iceberg. If we know the risk is higher when a wife is diagnosed then we can begin to confront that problem head on.

Read the MSNBC article about the study.

There is a lesson to be learned from these statistics. Sure, now we know that men are more likely to opt out of cancer-touched relationship if their wives are diagnosed, and that is very sad statistic. But the flip side is that now we know that is the case, and we can talk about how to confront the problem. When commited partners are hit with a cancer diagnoses, counseling should be a part of the treatment. Physicians need to be asking partners, especially men, how THEY are handling the situation, and physicians need to offer referals to services that can support partners.

Survivorship is about acknowledging the scary statistics and probabiiities and tackling them head-on. Survivorship is about being armed with information, so we can make healhty life choices!