My Health, Our Health
More family members will become caregivers of cancer patients and cancer survivors in coming decades, due to medical advances, early detection, and our aging population, all of which increase the number of cancer survivors. Studies have documented that cancer has an impact on the quality of life not only of the patients but also their family caregivers. In research on cancer caregivers, quality of life is understood as a multi-dimensional construct, including mental and physical health, and behavioral and spiritual adjustment. The trajectory of quality of life diverges, as time passes, and as the care recipients` health status changes. Each person`s quality of life is also influenced by other family members` resources and risk factors. Social and personality psychology provide a conceptually rich starting point for research on this set of phenomena. Several empirical studies testing hypotheses based on theories in social and personality psychology will be presented. These studies have helped to uncover psychosocial predictors and pathways of such dyadic interpersonal processes of cancer caregivership across the illness trajectory. Applications of social and personality psychology theories in the Health Psychology and Psycho-Oncology fields and future directions will be discussed.