Psycho-oncology
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This prospective and longitudinal study was designed to further our understanding of parental hope when a child is being treated for a malignancy resistant to treatment over three time points during the first year after diagnosis using a qualitative approach to inquiry. ⋯ For parents of children with a diagnosis of cancer with a poor prognosis, hope is an internal resource that can be present and future focused. These views fluctuated over time in response to changes in the child's well-being and disease progression.
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Despite the important role that family caregivers play in providing emotional and practical support to cancer patients, relatively little is known about the family caregiver's role in treatment decision-making (TDM). We sought to investigate patients' and family caregivers' preferences for and experiences of family involvement in TDM and factors associated with preference concordance. ⋯ Most patients and family caregivers valued and expected family involvement in TDM. However, there is little explicit agreement in regard to which party in the dyad should take decisional leadership and who should play a supporting role.
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Cancer survivors (CSs) are at risk of developing late effects (LEs) associated with the disease and its treatment. This paper compares the health status, care needs and use of health services by CSs with LEs and CSs without LEs. ⋯ The CS population with LEs comprises a particularly vulnerable group of survivors who have multiple health care problems and needs and who require tailored care plans that take account of LEs and their impact on health-related quality of life.
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The results of studies concerning levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescent children with a parent suffering from cancer as compared with control groups or normative data are contradictory so far. Longitudinal designs using control groups are rare. No study explicitly exploring a broad range of risk behaviors in adolescent children with a parent suffering from cancer exists to date. ⋯ Results suggest that the somatic illness of the parent is not a developmental risk that is expressed in increased levels of juvenile risk behavior. Adolescents with a parent suffering from cancer adjusted generally quite well to the parental illness, although some individuals did show signs of severe strain.
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To explore patients' and family members' views on communication during cancer care and to identify those aspects of clinician-patient communication which were most important to patients and family members. ⋯ The complexity of cancer care today suggests that efforts to improve communication must be multilevel, acknowledging and addressing patient, clinician, organizational and policy barriers, and facilitators. Measurement tools are needed to assess cancer patients' and family members' experiences with communication over the course of cancer care to provide meaningful, actionable feedback to those seeking to optimize their effectiveness in communicating with patients with cancer.