Asian Oncol Nurs.  2024 Dec;24(4):205-215. 10.5388/aon.2024.24.4.205.

Gender Differences in Caregiving Burden, Marital Intimacy, and Sexuality Information Needs among Spouses of Colon Cancer Patients

• Kim S
• Suh EE

• KMID: 2563946
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5388/aon.2024.24.4.205

Abstract

Purpose
Colon cancer patients and their spouses face significant physical and emotional challenges. This study aimed to compare caregiver burden, marital intimacy, and sexuality information needs between male and female spouses of colon cancer patients and to explore correlations among these variables.
Methods
A survey was conducted with 131 spouses from a tertiary care hospital in Seoul. There were 65 male respondents and 66 female respondents. Data collected from January to September 2018 used tools such as caregiver burden, marital intimacy, and sexual information needs and were analyzed using SPSS 25.0.
Results
Key findings include significant gender differences: female spouses were found to have a higher caregiver burden, especially in physical and emotional domains, while male spouses reported higher marital intimacy, including emotional and sexual intimacy. Sexual information needs showed no major gender differences, though male spouses had higher sexual satisfaction. Both male and female spouses demonstrated a negative correlation between caregiver burden and marital intimacy, while female spouses notably showed a positive correlation between marital intimacy and sexual information needs.
Conclusion
This study indicates that female spouses need nursing interventions to alleviate physical and emotional stress, possibly through support systems such as volunteer programs. Meanwhile, male spouses require education and communication programs to improve marital intimacy.

Keyword

Caregiver; Colon cancer; Nursing; Patient; Spouse