Young women with breast cancer (BC) and their partners generally face greater psychosocial difficulties relative to older couples, justifying the need for targeted support for this group. Toward this end, we examined how couples facing BC responded to participating in a self-in-relationship observation exercise intended to improve the relationship. Participants (N = 60) were 30 women and 30 male partners who, over the course of a week, observed and textually described/reported their “turning-towards-and-away-behaviors” deemed to contribute to relationship closeness/distance. Text-based feedback on the exercise was thematically analyzed. Findings suggest an online exercise promoting in vivo awareness of relationship interactions was feasible and acceptable to the majority of couples. Language accounts reflected acting with and through the shared “turning-towards-and-away-framework” with the intention of increasing closeness with one's partner. We discuss differences in exercise engagement and how participants reported changes in their attending, understanding, and acting in relationship, primarily for the better.

中文翻译：

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检查应对乳腺癌的夫妇参与自我关系观察练习的情况：基于文本的反馈的定性分析

与老年夫妇相比，患有乳腺癌 (BC) 的年轻女性及其伴侣通常面临更大的心理社会困难，因此需要为这一群体提供有针对性的支持。为此，我们研究了面临 BC 的夫妇对参加旨在改善关系的自我关系观察练习的反应。参与者（N  = 60）包括 30 名女性和 30 名男性伴侣，他们在一周的时间内观察并以文字方式描述/报告了他们被认为有助于关系亲密/距离的“转向和远离行为”。对演习中基于文本的反馈进行了主题分析。研究结果表明，提高对关系互动的体内意识的在线练习是可行的，并且为大多数夫妇所接受。语言描述反映了通过共享的“转向和远离框架”采取行动，目的是增加与伴侣的亲密程度。我们讨论了锻炼参与度的差异，以及参与者如何报告他们在参与、理解和关系行为方面的变化，主要是为了更好。