Psychologische interventies

Advances in cancer research and therapy have improved prognosis and the quality of life of many patients. However, previous epidemiological studies in oncologic patients have shown an increased risk of suicide. Suicidal thoughts, relatively well known in those terminally ill, may be just as important for cancer patients who are survivors or are living with the disease. Nonetheless, there is a relative paucity of data about suicidality in this setting.

Although a plethora of studies exist as to the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions with cancer patients, existential, loss, and grief factors are absent. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to add to the literature by exploring the pre–post effects of an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention on existential well-being, summed self-identified losses, and grief scores as well as assess mental adjustment to cancer; also, 6-month follow-up data as to intervention maintenance were obtained.

Therapists working at the eight psycho-oncological centers in the Netherlands (N = 43) were presented a list of 15 problems often encountered during therapy with cancer patients. The therapists were asked to indicate the predominant psychological problems they had dealt with during their five most recently completed interventions. The authors received complete answers from 37 therapists (86%). Anxiety and depression were the two predominant problems most often encountered by therapists during therapy (31% and 29%, respectively).

This study investigated patients living with cancer and caregivers of patients living with cancer with regard to cancer support group content and satisfaction with this model of support (N = 3,723). Using a cross-sectional survey design participants were recruited through registered users of the NexCura Cancer Profiler website. Demographic and clinical variables, including perceived social support, were compared between patients and caregivers.

This research sought to identify what has been helpful for young people who have a parent diagnosed with cancer. Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with young people (N = 15, age: M = 15.9 years) who had a parent diagnosed with cancer within the last 5 years. A phenomenological thematic data analysis distinguished three superordinate themes, identifying what helped adolescents cope with their parent's cancer diagnosis. These were parental behavior, specific coping strategies used by the young person, and community support.

Being a parent of a child diagnosed with cancer poses an enormous stressor. Indeed, several parents have difficulties adjusting to such a situation and react with symptoms of traumatic stress, depression, and reduced quality of life. However, there is little conceptual work on behavioral mechanisms that contribute to suboptimal adaptation in these parents. The authors present a conceptualization in which experiential avoidance and rumination are suggested to contribute to increased levels of traumatic stress and suboptimal adaption.

Hematological malignancies can cause high levels of distress, but few studies have assessed risk of suicidal behavior among these patients.

Methods: We evaluated risk of attempted and completed suicide in a cohort of 46,309 patients diagnosed with malignant lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia in Sweden 1992 to 2009 and 107,736 cancer-free subjects, using Poisson regression.

Identifying at-risk adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients and referring them to age-appropriate psychosocial support services may be instrumental in reducing psychological distress and promoting psychosocial adaptation. The purpose of this study is to identify trajectories of clinically significant levels of distress throughout the first year following diagnosis and to distinguish factors, including supportive care service use, that predict the extent to which AYAs report distress.

The aim of this study was to provide insight into survivor-reported negative and positive consequences of cancer during adolescence 10 years after diagnosis and compare these with consequences reported 3 and 4 years after diagnosis.

Dit boek is een praktische handleiding voor professionelen in de gezondheidszorg die het nodige inzicht in de problemantiek en een uitgewerkt stappenplan aanbiedt om kinderen en hun omgeving bij te staan wanneer iemand stervende is.