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This study explored the feasibility and potentials of a naturalistic observation approach to studying dyadic coping in everyday life. Specifically, it examined the natural context and content of the spontaneous cancer conversations of couples coping with cancer, and how they relate to patients’ and spouses’ psychological adjustment. Women with breast cancer (N= 56) and their spouses wore the electronically activated recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive observation method that periodically records snippets of ambient sounds, over one weekend to observe the couples’ cancer conversations in their natural context. Both patients and spouses completed self-reported measures of psychological adjustment at baseline and at a 2-month follow-up. Cancer was a topic of approximately 5% of couples’ conversations. Cancer conversations occurred more often within the couple than with friends and family, and they were more …