The effects of Ménière's disorder on the patient's significant others.

Objective: To determine the effects of their partners' MD on the significant others of the patients.

Design: Open-ended questionnaire.

Study Sample: Significant others of members of the Finnish Ménière's Federation.

Results: The predominant responses concerned effects on their lives and lifestyle--participation restrictions (effects on personal and community life)--and on personal contextual factors (uncertainty of life). In contrast they fail to list such effects of the patients, focussing rather on the patients' symptoms. Five percent of the responses given entailed positive experiences.

Conclusions: Significant others of patients with MD listed a wide range of effects of their partner's condition on them. We encourage doctors and therapists to include the significant others in the rehabilitation process to enable them to understand the patient's condition, to help the significant other, and so better support the patients concerned.