Group support for patients with metastatic cancer. A randomized outcome study.
01 May 1981-Archives of General Psychiatry (American Medical Association)-Vol. 38, Iss: 5, pp 527-533
TL;DR: Objective evidence is provided that a supportive group intervention for patients with metastatic cancer results in psychological benefit and mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this group intervention are explored.
Abstract: • The effects of weekly supportive group meetings for women with metastatic carcinoma of the breast were systematically evaluated in a one-year, randomized, prospective outcome study. The groups focused on the problems of terminal illness, including improving relationships with family, friends, and physicians and living as fully as possible in the face of death. We hypothesized that this intervention would lead to improved mood, coping strategies, and self-esteem among those in the treatment group. Eighty-six patients were tested at four-month intervals. The treatment group had significantly lower mooddisturbance scores on the Profile of Mood States scale, had fewer maladaptive coping responses, and were less phobic than the control group. This study provides objective evidence that a supportive group intervention for patients with metastatic cancer results in psychological benefit. Mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this group intervention are explored.
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: As advances in medical treatment extend life with cancer, converting it from a terminal to a chronic disease, problems in coping with the illness and its treatment become more important, and the doctor-patient relationship has the potential to undermine.
Abstract: As advances in medical treatment extend life with cancer, converting it from a terminal to a chronic disease, problems in coping with the illness and its treatment become more important. Finding means of helping people live with a chronic life threat, cope with the side effects of arduous treatments, and manage the personal, social and vocational consequences of disease-related disability is of growing importance. These encouraging trends have brought problems with them, however. Growing interest in the mind/body connection in the popular literature has fueled a growing appetite for complementary and alternative treatments and ideas, some of which are useful, while others are potentially harmful (Spiegel, Stroud et al. 1998). Recent studies show that more than forty percent of Americans utilize complementary treatments, and most do so in addition to rather than in place of conventional medical care (Eisenberg, Davis et al. 1998). However, two-thirds of patients who utilize such treatments do not tell their physicians that they are doing so (Eisenberg, Kessler et al. 1993). This has the potential to undermine the doctor-patient relationship (Spiegel 1999).
1 citations
TL;DR: This trial examines whether increases in psychological flexibility, defined as full awareness of the present moment while persisting in behaviors aligned with personal values, account for the beneficial effect of ACT on fatigue interference and whether this can be widely disseminated to clinicians who care for metastatic breast cancer patients.
1 citations
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this article, a longitudinal study examined how self-esteem, perceived social support, and coping strategies are associated with the development of depressive symptoms during the transition to college and found that selfesteem may affect both perceived social supports and disengagement coping to subsequently predict depressive symptoms.
Abstract: The first year of college is a
significant life transition that can be a particularly stressful
experience, which may lead to the development or exacerbation of
depressive symptoms. Due to the considerable negative outcomes that
are associated with depressive symptoms across the lifespan, it is
important to understand the mechanisms and pathways through which
such symptoms arise. This prospective study examines how
self-esteem, perceived social support, and coping strategies are
associated with the development of depressive symptoms during the
transition to college. The findings of this longitudinal study
indicate that self-esteem may affect both perceived social support
and disengagement coping to subsequently predict depressive
symptomatology. Furthermore, the association between self-esteem
and perceived social support seems to be bidirectional, in that
level of self-esteem may predict perceived social support, and vice
versa. Disengagement coping also seems to be an underlying
indicator of developing psychopathology, for individuals with high
self-esteem as well as those with low
self-esteem.
1 citations
01 Jan 2016
1 citations
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: The necessity for psychiatric treatment and assessment of therapies is increased in order to improve side effects of treatment and enhance quality of life.
Abstract: To live with cancer is much more than adapting to the treatments and their side effects. In the assessment and treatment of cancer patients, the importance of psychosocial factors is emphasized. The necessity for psychiatric treatment and assessment of therapies is increased in order to improve side effects of treatment and enhance quality of life. Treatment team members need to be careful of the possibility that psychiatric problems may occur regardless of the progress of illness. In case such problems occur, psychiatric consultation should be considered. The therapeutic approaches used in cancer patients are a combination of psychotherapeutic, behavioral, and psychopharmacologic techniques. Psychotherapeutic approaches include cognitive therapy, family therapy, group therapy, and self-help treatment. Behavioral approaches, such as relaxation, biofeedback, systematic desensitization, hypnosis, and guided imagery, are helpful for pain and anxiety during procedures, nausea and vomiting, and cancer-related eating disorders. Psychopharmacologic approach is effective for anxiety, depression, delirium, pain, nausea, vomiting, and insomnia. An integrated approach including those therapeutic techniques tailored to each individual’s need is strongly suggested.
1 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of reward or reinforcement on preceding behavior depend in part on whether the person perceives the reward as contingent on his own behavior or independent of it, and individuals may also differ in generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.
Abstract: The effects of reward or reinforcement on preceding behavior depend in part on whether the person perceives the reward as contingent on his own behavior or independent of it. Acquisition and performance differ in situations perceived as determined by skill versus chance. Persons may also differ in generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. This report summarizes several experiments which define group differences in behavior when Ss perceive reinforcement as contingent on their behavior versus chance or experimenter control. The report also describes the development of tests of individual differences in a generalized belief in internal-external control and provides reliability, discriminant validity and normative data for 1 test, along with a description of the results of several studies of construct validity.
21,451 citations
Book•
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01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: In this article, the implications of terminal illness for patients and for those involved in their care were discussed, and patients invited to talk about their experience found great relief in expressing their fear and anger and were able to move towards a state of acceptance and peace.
Abstract: Although most areas of human experience are nowadays discussed freely and openly, the subject of death is still surrounded by conventional attitudes and reticence that offer only fragile comfort because they evade the real issues. The dying may thus be denied the opportunity of sharing their feelings and discussing their needs with family, friends, or hospital staff. Although receiving devoted medical care, a dying patient is often socially isolated and avoided, since professional staff and students can find contact painful and embarrasing.
Aware of the strains imposed on all sides by this situation, Dr Kubler-Ross established a seminar at the University of Chicago to consider the implications of terminal illness for patients and for those involved in their care. Patients invited to talk about their experience often found great relief in expressing their fear and anger and were able to move towards a state of acceptance and peace. The seminar, initially composed of students of medicine, sociology, psychology, and theology, but later joined by hospital staff and relatives of patients, enabled many members to come to terms with their own feelings and to respond constructi to what the patients had to teach them.
5,220 citations
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1,254 citations
TL;DR: A study of 800 outpatient visits to Children's Hospital of Los Angeles as discussed by the authors explored the effect of verbal interaction between doctor and patient on patient satisfaction and follow-through on follow-up.
Abstract: Study of 800 outpatient visits to Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles to explore the effect of the verbal interaction between doctor and patient on patient satisfaction and follow-through on...
947 citations