It seems unlikely that there would be much interest in combining very efficacious PEV or BSV with a rather poor efficacy partner.
However, according to published studies, there is no evidence that partner treatment is efficacious [ 44].
If a couple-based intervention is as efficacious as a patient or partner-only intervention, and the effects are maintained longer, then there may be potential to alleviate some burden on healthcare clinics and professionals.
34 Recent reviews have suggested that, in some contexts, couple-based interventions might be more efficacious in achieving optimal patient and partner adjustment than individual-based interventions.
The potent artemisinin derivatives, combined with longer-half-life partner drugs, are the only efficacious treatments left for multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum infection and thus form the cornerstone of antimalarial drug therapy.
Coping skills training interventions have been found to be efficacious in helping both patients and their partners manage the physical and emotional challenges they face following a cancer diagnosis.
If this is so, appropriate and efficacious interventions for perinatal depression should include both partners.
Given effect sizes of couple-based interventions are similar to those reported in recent meta-analyses of patient-only and caregiver-only interventions (~ d=.35-.45), it appears couple-based interventions for patients with cancer and their partners may be at least as efficacious as patient-only and caregiver-only interventions.
While it did not protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), it was efficacious, user-controlled, and could be used without a partner's knowledge.
Other interventions targeting self-care and symptom management discussion were found to be efficacious in improving physical distress and both patients' and partners' ability to manage symptoms regardless of their diagnosis [ 48, 59].
