Psycho-oncology
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Distress caused by cancer may have an important impact on the quality of a couple's relationship. This investigation examined perceived relationship changes in a sample of cancer patients and their partners, accounting for gender and role (i.e., patient or partner). ⋯ Although most couples in our sample reported growing closer while dealing with cancer, a small but sizeable percentage observed negative changes in their relationships, and these negative changes resulted in increased psychological distress and worse quality of life. Female partners were at greatest risk for these negative perceptions.
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Informal caregivers of people with advanced cancer experience many negative impacts as a result of their role. There is a lack of suitable measures specifically designed to assess their experience. This study aimed to develop a new measure to assess self-efficacy in caregivers of people with advanced cancer. ⋯ This study has developed a new instrument to assess self-efficacy in caregivers of people with advanced cancer. The result is a four-factor, 21-item instrument with demonstrated reliability and validity.
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The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the affective and cognitive states of neurooncological patients prior to the neurosurgical treatment to assess associations between distress levels and neuropsychological test performance in this sample and setting. ⋯ Our results suggest that, for a large variety of widely used neuropsychological measures and for most neurooncological patients, the preoperative neuropsychological baseline assessment can be considered valid and dependable. In patients with extreme levels of distress, however, distinct cognitive domains might be differentially affected.
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To investigate the prevalence of desire for formal psychological support of primary caregivers of patients with cancer and to identify caregivers' and patients' socio-demographic and psychological characteristics as well as patients' disease-related characteristics associated with this desire. ⋯ One out of five caregivers desires formal psychological support although one out of two caregivers experiences significant levels of distress. The weak association between caregivers' desire for formal support and distress emphasizes the need to implement systematic screenings of both their distress and their desire for formal psychological support in oncology.
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Time since cancer diagnosis is rarely accounted for in population-based studies of health-related quality of life (HRQL) among cancer survivors. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the relationship between time since cancer diagnosis and impairments in HRQL among short-term, long-term and very long-term cancer survivors in the general population. ⋯ Although HRQL was similar between short-term, long-term and very long-term survivors, when compared with the background population, findings suggest that some functional impairments and symptoms are present even at 5-10 YSD.