The present study draws attention to the significance of considering mindfulness and spiritual well-being on cancer-related distress among couples with cancer during the pandemic. Dyadic data was analyzed among couples with cancer (80 couples; N=160) to examine the within-person (actor effects) and between-partner (partner effects) associations among links between mindfulness, spiritual well-being, and cancer-related distress through the use of the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM; Kashy & Kenny, 2000). Significant actor and/or partner effects were found for mindfulness and spiritual well-being in couples with cancer, a factor that predicted cancer-related distress. Spirituality seemed to only play an important role in patients’ own cancer-related distress (actor effect), with patients’ higher levels of spiritual well-being predicting patients’ lower levels of distress. On the other hand, mindfulness was not only significantly related to the cancer patient and partner’s own distress (actor effect), partner’s mindfulness was also significantly associated with the patient’s distress (partner effect). The findings underscore the need to adopt a systemic perspective that accounts for multiple, simultaneous adaptive processes including mindfulness and spiritual well-being as influences on cancer-related distress in the time of COVID-19.
Predictive Role of Spiritual Well-Being for Optimism and Life Expectancy among Women Who Referred To Health Centers