ObjectiveSupport people of cancer patients are at significant risk for psychological distress. Additionally, cancer patients' well‐being is reciprocally associated with support peoples' psychological well‐being. Informed by Uncertainty in Illness Theory, this study tests whether support person psychological well‐being is influenced by provider communication and uncertainty reduction.MethodsWe tested a multiple mediation model to investigate how empathic communication facilitates psychological adjustment in support people of cancer patients and how this process is mediated by support peoples' illness uncertainty and caregiver burden. Support people of cancer patients (N = 121; including spouses, adult children, etc.) completed an online questionnaire about their perceptions of oncologists' empathy, uncertainty about the cancer patients' illness, perceived caregiving burden, and their psychological adjustment to diagnoses.ResultsPath analysis revealed that (1) more perceived oncologist empathy was associated with less illness uncertainty, (2) more illness uncertainty was associated with worse psychological adjustment and more perceived caregiver burden, and (3) more burden was associated with worse adjustment (χ2(2) = 1.19, p = 0.55; RMSEA < 0.01; CFI = 1.00; SRMR = 0.02).ConclusionsGiven the reciprocal nature of well‐being between cancer patients and their support people, it is critical to understand and bolster support people's psychological well‐being. Results demonstrated how empathic provider communication can support psychological well‐being for support people of cancer patients. Additionally, this study offers theoretical contributions to understandings of illness uncertainty in caregiver populations.

中文翻译：

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支持支持者：肿瘤科医生在减少支持者的不确定性和促进心理调整方面的作用

目的癌症患者的支持者面临着巨大的心理困扰风险。此外，癌症患者的健康状况与支持者的心理健康状况相互关联。根据疾病的不确定性理论，本研究测试了支持者的心理健康是否受到提供者沟通和不确定性减少的影响。方法我们测试了多重中介模型，以调查移情沟通如何促进癌症患者支持者的心理调整以及这个过程如何是由支持者的疾病不确定性和护理人员负担调节的。支持癌症患者（氮= 121；包括配偶、成年子女等）完成了一份在线调查问卷，了解他们对肿瘤医生同理心的看法、对癌症患者疾病的不确定性、感知的护理负担以及他们对诊断的心理调整。结果路径分析显示，（1）更多的感知肿瘤医生同理心与较少的疾病不确定性相关，（2）更多的疾病不确定性与较差的心理适应和更多的照顾者负担相关，（3）更多的负担与较差的适应相关（χ2(2) = 1.19,p= 0.55; 均方根误差 < 0.01；CFI=1.00；SRMR = 0.02）。结论鉴于癌症患者与其支持者之间的幸福感具有相互性，了解和支持支持者的心理健康至关重要。结果表明，同理心的提供者沟通如何能够支持癌症患者的心理健康。此外，这项研究为理解护理人员群体的疾病不确定性提供了理论贡献。