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 2006
26 citations
Stanford University1, Harvard University2, Columbia University3, National Institutes of Health4, University of South Florida5, The Catholic University of America6, University of Nebraska Medical Center7, Portland State University8, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill9, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston10, University of Pittsburgh11, Springfield College12, Washington University in St. Louis13, Baptist Health14
TL;DR: As the Association of Oncology Social Work celebrates its 25th year, it pauses to reflect on the many historical threads that contributed to its development and hear from each of the presidents who helped create the organization, as the authors know it today.
Abstract: As the Association of Oncology Social Work celebrates its 25th year, we pause to reflect on the many historical threads that contributed to its development and hear from each of the presidents who helped create the organization, as we know it today. Set within hospitals, medical social work was born in the early 20th century. In the 1940s medical social work became necessary for hospital accreditation. Two additional historical shifts, one in medical improvements in treating cancer, the other a shift to a consumer-oriented American Cancer Society, contributed to the push for a greater role for the federal government in funding cancer research. Oncology social work came to full blossom in the 1970s, a result of the physicians' need for a member of the health care team who understood cancer, its treatment, and the patient's need to address his or her psychosocial needs resulting from cancer. Today, oncology social work is a fully developed profession with a national organization providing education and support to oncology social workers' in their use of psychosocial interventions and research in behalf of cancer patients and their families.
26 citations
TL;DR: There is increasing evidence that self-help groups are beneficial, and their use should be encouraged, and it is not a question of which system of change-self help or professional-is better.
Abstract: Self-help processes of change are different and distinct from those of professional service and evolve empirically out of the patients' own experience. There is increasing evidence that self-help groups are beneficial, and their use should be encouraged. It is not a question of which system of change-self help or professional-is better. Both methods appear to have a meaningful role in helping individuals with psychosocial problems, including patients with cancer.
26 citations
TL;DR: Ground rules for the establishment of a successful support group for cancer patients are described and the demands on facilitators and patients in these groups are discussed.
Abstract: Support groups have been introduced in medicine since a number of years and several studies indicate that these groups can be beneficial for cancer patients. This article reviews the concept and types of support groups in cancer care. The demands on facilitators and patients in these groups are discussed and potential problems are emphasized. Ground rules for the establishment of a successful support group for cancer patients are described.
26 citations
TL;DR: Clinical applications of quality of life data in five areas are summarised: alerting physicians and nurses to common patient concerns, informing patients of common reactions to breast cancer, aiding patients and physicians in decision-making, developing training programmes for medical personnel, and designing interventions for patients and their families.
26 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
3,765 citations
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