Journal of psychosocial oncology
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The needs and desires of lesbians and gay men with cancer at the end of their lives are not fundamentally different from any other dying individual's needs. There are, however, significant legal restrictions and societal attitudes that can negatively affect the dying experiences of lesbians and gay men. Lesbians and gay men face many challenges at the end of their lives, including issues of disclosure in the healthcare setting, discrimination, misconceptions, legal and financial barriers and the disenfranchised grief of surviving same-sex partners. Oncology social workers can play a prominent role in advocating for these individuals to allow for dignity and support in spite of these barriers and provide effective interventions to help in assisting lesbians and gaymen with healthcare decision-making and end-of-life care planning.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Adults' attitudes toward children with cancer.
More children with cancer are receiving effective treatment, which allows for increased participation in everyday settings. Yet, little information is available about people's acceptance of children with cancer. ⋯ Adults' responses suggested that they perceived children with cancer as experiencing primarily physical limitations (e.g., less strength and agility). Exposure to information about cancer was related to higher acceptance ratings for children described as having cancer, providing support for the importance of continued efforts to improve knowledge about the effects of this disease.
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Breast cancer treatment can have a profound influence on a woman's physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being. Anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and fear of recurrence are common responses to a diagnosis of breast cancer and undergoing breast cancer treatment. ⋯ Findings from the present study reveal that breast cancer patients who have better pain coping strategies also have lower levels of anxiety, fatigue and depression. These results suggest that pain coping interventions may reduce fatigue and psychological distress among women with breast cancer.
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This article reviews recent literature on age differences in psychological adjustment to breast cancer. Overall, studies have shown that older women experience less psychological distress in terms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. ⋯ Coping also may mediate the relationship between age and affective responses, but the confounding of coping and distress in widely used inventories precludes definitive conclusions. Future research should explore the contextual mechanisms underlying age differences in adjustment.
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Secondary traumatic stress (STS) represents a disorder that has the same symptoms as post traumatic stress disorder, but results from vicariously experiencing trauma through association with those directly encountering the traumatic event(s). This exploratory study examined STS in 21 oncology social workers who were members of the Association of Oncology Social Workers. The results of this study revealed that oncology social workers experienced compassion fatigue and burnout and that these variables were inversely related to compassion satisfaction. Other relationships between emotional involvement, ability to separate work from home, level of licensure, personal loss, and empathetic responsiveness were also examined.