Table 2 Title, aims/contents, and approaches of the programme sessions

1. Primary stressors: Caring for your spouse with cancer

- To present key strategies relating to illness-related factors and care demand;

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- To help cancer dyads to gain more confidence in responding to the physical and psychosocial issues of both patients’ and caregivers;

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- To outline the services available from the cancer caring team and other support services.

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2. Secondary stressors: Improving the role adjustment of cancer dyads and their relationship

- To facilitate the role conflict and adjustment of cancer dyads by providing them with verbal and written information about typical aspects and common issues associated with their roles as an individual cancer patient and/or a spousal caregiver, and as a dyad within the relationship;

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- To support cancer dyads by focusing specific attention on their needs, including having enjoyable experiences, getting enough sleep, following a healthy diet, getting enough exercise, and having a good relationship;

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- To reinforce the role of the cancer care service.

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3. Dyadic mediator: Improving the self-efficacy of cancer dyads and their relationship

- To help cancer dyads to appreciate the daily enrichment events;

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- To elevate the dyads’ sense of self-efficacy;

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- To encourage the cancer dyads to practise relationship-enhancing behaviours, including self-disclosure and being responsive to one’s partner;

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- To improve cancer-related communication between couples by educating them to take the view of ‘hoping for the best, preparing for the worst’.

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4. Dyadic appraisal: Improving the sharing by cancer dyads of stressful events

- To help cancer dyads to acknowledge the meaning of their role in daily life and to give caregivers a feeling of accomplishment;

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- To facilitate the sharing by dyads of stressful events by helping them to appraise presentations of the illness, the ownership of the illness, and specific stressors;

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- To help the dyads to understand strategies for maintaining a good relationship: ‘communication’, ‘reciprocal influence’, ‘caregiver-patient congruence’.

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5. Dyadic coping: Improving supportive and collaborative coping by cancer dyads

- To improve supportive and collaborative coping by cancer dyads by facilitating meaning-focused coping strategies for benefit finding, benefit reminding, adaptive goal processes, reordering priorities, and infusing ordinary events with positive meaning;

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- To promote self-care on the part of spousal caregivers by encouraging them to plan ahead and enhance their physical and mental health by promoting regular ‘time outs’, enjoyable experiences, enough sleep, a healthy diet, exercise, and advice on relaxation strategies.

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6. Overview of the whole programme

- To help cancer dyads to review the main contents of the programme and to address any problems that they might have.

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