Patient education and counseling
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This article provides an analysis of issues and empirical evidence related to literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in online health and cancer communication, and recommendations to improve cancer communication for diverse audiences. ⋯ Practitioners should understand the strengths and weaknesses of online cancer communication for vulnerable groups, guide patients to better Websites, and supplement that information with oral and tailored communication.
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Review Case Reports
Palliative care for elderly patients with advanced cancer: a long-term intervention for end-of-life care.
This essay identifies elderly cancer patients as a population that experiences cancer-related health disparities at the end-of-life. ⋯ Long-term assessment of the impact of PC prior to hospice is proposed as a promising direction of future research.
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The physiological, cognitive, language and communicative changes that take place as we enter into old age have become quite well documented within the social scientific literature. Many of these changes lead in some way to a lessening of previous interactive abilities and competencies. The new mantra for gerontologists attempting to help older adults compensate for these potential losses is to develop strategies to maintain existing abilities as long as possible. ⋯ Providers, patients, and caregivers must all participate in creating a health care environment of shared meaning and understanding of health messages tailored to the aging patient diagnosed with cancer. Health communication scholars have various theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic communication-based approaches that provide important contributions to the complexities of caring for the aging patient.
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Review
Can simulations measure empathy? Considerations on how to assess behavioral empathy via simulations.
Standardized patient simulations have been used as an assessment tool, providing teachers an opportunity to observe learner clinical and communication skills while eliminating the fear of harm to patients. Yet the vices and virtues of these simulations in measuring clinical and communication skills have been deliberated. ⋯ We advocate that, in properly designed and conducted simulations, the scores and feedback comments from standardized patients to learners regarding their empathic behaviors can identify learners with important deficiencies. We conclude our discussion by recommending that reflective practice, challenging cases, decision moments, and raters training to provide feedback can supplement and enrich the use of standardized patient simulations in evaluating empathy.
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To illustrate a multidisciplinary group treatment for patients with fibromyalgia (FM) tailored to the patient's cognitive-behavioral pattern. ⋯ FM offers a great challenge for clinicians due to the lack of effective treatment options. These case studies suggests that tailored CBT and exercise training directed at specific patient patterns can contribute to the improvement of the care of FM patients.