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Journal ArticleDOI

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.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A very brief 4‐session program that provides training in basic coping skills: stress management, relaxation training, thought monitoring and changing, mental imagery and goal setting for cancer patients and family members, suggests that the benefits gained from a large group in a classroom are not substantially less than the improvements documented in the usual small group format.
Abstract: It is well established that brief psychoeducational programs for cancer patients will significantly improve mean quality of life. As this kind of adjunctive treatment becomes integrated into general cancer management, it will be necessary to devise cost-effective and efficacious programs that can be offered to relatively large numbers of patients. We have developed a very brief 4-session program that provides this service to 40-80 patients and family members per month (and seems capable of serving much larger numbers, depending on the capacity of the facility in which they assemble). Patients meet in a hospital auditorium for a large group, lecture-style program that offers training in basic coping skills: stress management, relaxation training, thought monitoring and changing, mental imagery and goal setting. Over the first year we have treated 363 patients and 150 family members. Improvements were assessed by changes in the POMS-Short Form, and both patients and family members were found to improve significantly over the course of the program. While this is not a randomized comparison, it suggests that the benefits gained from a large group in a classroom are not substantially less than the improvements that have been documented in the usual small group format, where more interactive discussions are possible.

35 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of studies on the effects of contacts between cancer-patients shows that most of these studies do not satisfy the methodological conditions necessary to draw firm conclusions as mentioned in this paper, which leads, among other difficulties, to the generation of conflicting hypotheses.

34 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, National Telephone Support Group (NTSG) was developed for children, non-infected siblings, infected and noninfected mothers and foster parents, foster parents and grandparents, and the results of pre and post test questionnaires examining isolation and group usefulness are also presented.
Abstract: The complexity of psychosocial needs that HIV-infected children and their families confront makes innovative approaches for group support a necessity. In response, National Telephone Support Groups were developed for children, non-infected siblings, infected and non-infected mothers, infected and non-infected fathers, foster parents and grandparents. As each group was recorded and transcribed this article is a preliminary step towards identifying and reporting the psychosocial challenges of living with HIV and the impact of the group on individual members. The initial organization of the groups, the format, content, structure and practical considerations such as cost and accessibility are described. The results of pre and post test questionnaires examining isolation and group usefulness are also presented in this article.

34 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A subset of individuals with HIV/AIDS experience high levels of acute stress reactivity to life events considered non-traumatic, and HIV-infected individuals who react strongly to ongoing life stressors are more likely to have developed PTSD symptoms in response to previous traumatic life events.
Abstract: Objective:This study examined the prevalence of acute stress reactions to recent life events among persons living with HIV/AIDS. A second aim was to investigate the relationship of acute stress rea...

34 citations


Cites background from "Group support for patients with met..."

  • ...SET is characterized by seven characteristics: building social support, encouraging expression of emotion, detoxifying dying, reordering life priorities, improving communication with physicians, fortifying families, and symptom management [56]....

    [...]

  • ...Supportive-expressive group therapy (SET) [50-55] is a group psychotherapy intervention that has been developed to assist people facing a serious illness....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of "mera presencia" de colate-rales was introduced by Guerin et al. as discussed by the authors, who argued that the presence of colaterales aumentaba el nivel de "drive" del sujeto and llevaba a la facilitacion social,si bien variables situaciones o de la tarea modulaban tal facilitacion.
Abstract: Desde una perspectiva funcionalista los humanos, en su infancia, pronto des-cubren que deben aprender a ser efectivos con la avalancha estimular de su me-dio concreto; al mover sus miembros se dan cuenta de que pueden hacerlo ysiguen repitiendo los movimientos cual reminiscencia, segun diria Allport (1924),del reflejo circular. Desde este preciso instante podria estar ya haciendo posola futura auto-estima del individuo adulto, retomando la corriente de WilliamJames, para quien la autoestima era una funcion de los exitos que pretendemoso a los que aspiramos.Posteriormente, esa necesidad de efectividad y competencia con el medioambiente —para una distincion de ambos terminos vease White (1959)— quese manifiesta en los primeros actos del recien nacido, se traslada no a las cosassino a las personas. El individuo humano descubre que el sentimiento de con-trolabilidad de su medio ambiente le vendra dado en base a su eficacia en lasrelaciones interpersonales con los demas. Y no solo eso, sino que la misma efi-cacia en sus tareas puede verse alterada por la sola presencia de otras personas.Al fin y a la postre este fue el primer experimento de laboratorio en PsicologiaSocial realizado en 1889 por Triplett. Zajonc (1965) y las nuevas aportacionesa su hipotesis de la «mera presencia» realizadas entre otros por Guerin (1986),seguiria con este tipo de trabajos al proponer que la «mera presencia» de colate-rales aumentaba el nivel de «drive» del sujeto y llevaba a la facilitacion social,si bien variables situaciones o de la tarea modulaban tal facilitacion.Definitivamente, la persona humana sigue mostrando esa necesidad secun-daria en terminos de Maslow de «hacerse con los demas», de comunicarse conellos, de «tenerlos» para que nos sostengan y de sentirse queridos. En otras pa-labras, necesitamos tener apoyo social porque en funcion de la amplitud del mis-mo estara el bienestar social e individual del sujeto humano. Intentaremosdesarrollar teoricamente este concepto.

34 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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
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

Journal ArticleDOI
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

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