Cancer and the spouse: gender-related differences in dealing with health care and illness

There is a universal assertion that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of physical and mental well-being. Notwithstanding this assertion, different behaviors, responses to stressful events, environmental experiences, and biological processes are seen as contributing factors to individual variations in health and well-being. Until recently, medical treatment for women has been based on a mate model, without regard to the fact that women perceive and react differently from men to treatments or that some diseases manifest themselves differently in women and men. In this paper, we review research outcomes and theoretical issues of gender differentiation in illness behavior and psychological behavior of cancer patients and their partners. It is time for the gender-bias paradigm to be re-examined and redefined. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.