Living with a wife undergoing chemotherapy.

This study explicates the experience of living with a woman undergoing chemotherapy from the perspective of her husband. Data include 48 unstructured, open-ended face-to-face or telephone interviews with 14 informants and the diary of one informant. A substantive theory depicts the process through which husbands experience their wives' chemotherapy treatment for cancer. A three-stage model was developed, consisting of identifying the threat, engaging in the fight and becoming a veteran. Buffering was identified as the basic social process that explained the behaviors of husbands throughout this experience. It is proposed that when the disease reoccurs and chemotherapy is recommended, the process begins again.