Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialDoes assessing patients' expectancies about chemotherapy side effects influence their occurrence?
Increasing evidence suggests a link between patients' expectancies and post-chemotherapy side effects. However, it remains unclear whether asking patients about their expectancies might actually increase side effects. ⋯ These findings suggest that patient expectancies might be a useful point of intervention for attempting to reduce the burden of chemotherapy-related side effects, as there do not appear to be any detrimental effects of asking patients to report their expectancies and their expectancies do appear related to the occurrence of post-treatment side effects.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2013
Comparative StudyReliability and validity of a tool to measure the severity of dysphagia: the Food Intake LEVEL Scale.
Dysphagia is one of the most prevalent and distressing symptoms among palliative care patients, and a practical assessment tool is required. ⋯ The FILS seems to have fair reliability and validity as a practical tool for assessing the severity of dysphagia. Further study on the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of the FILS compared with the FOIS is needed.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2013
The development and validation of a shorter version of the Canadian Health Care Evaluation Project Questionnaire (CANHELP Lite): a novel tool to measure patient and family satisfaction with end-of-life care.
The recently developed Canadian Health Care Evaluation Project (CANHELP) questionnaire, which can be used to assess both patient and family satisfaction with end-of-life care, takes 40-60 minutes to complete. The length of the interview may limit its uptake and clinical utility; a shorter version would make its use more feasible. ⋯ The CANHELP Lite questionnaire is a valid and internally consistent instrument to measure satisfaction with end-of-life care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2013
Genetic variations in interleukin-8 and interleukin-10 are associated with pain, depressed mood, and fatigue in lung cancer patients.
A report by the National Cancer Institute identified that an important gap in symptom research is the investigation of multiple symptoms of cancer that might identify common biological mechanisms among cancer-related symptoms. ⋯ The interaction of multiple inflammation genes, along with nongenetic factors, underlies the occurrence of symptoms. IL-8 and IL-10 may serve as potential targets for treating multiple symptoms of cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2013
Clinical TrialRelationship between pain and post-traumatic stress symptoms in palliative care.
Previous research suggests that patients receiving palliative care may simultaneously experience poorly managed pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms as a result of their deteriorating health. ⋯ The findings of the present study reveal that pain and PTSD-related symptoms are important concerns in palliative care, and that pain must be addressed to best meet the needs of this population.