Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
Parent perceptions of child vulnerability are associated with functioning and health care use in children with chronic pain.
The extent to which parent variables are associated with the level of disability experienced by children with persistent pain has been an area of increasing research. ⋯ Parent perceptions of child vulnerability appear important for understanding levels of child functional limitations and health care utilization among children with chronic pain.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
An assessment of the screening performance of a single-item measure of depression from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale among chronically ill hospitalized patients.
Few studies have examined the validity of using a single item from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) for screening for depression. ⋯ These single-item measures were not effective in screening for probable depression in chronically ill patients regardless of the time frame or the response format used, but a cutoff of ≥ 5 or "mild" or greater did achieve sufficient specificity to raise clinical suspicion.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialComparisons of exercise dose and symptom severity between exercisers and nonexercisers in women during and after cancer treatment.
Although numerous studies of the efficacy of exercise are reported, few studies have evaluated changes in characteristics of exercise dose in women with cancer both during and after cancer treatment. ⋯ Both during and after cancer treatment, achieving or maintaining exercise guideline levels were met by most patients. Further study is needed to examine the link between exercise dose and symptom severity.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialInfluence of patient coaching on analgesic treatment adjustment: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.
For patients with cancer-related pain and their physicians, routine oncology visits are an opportunity to adjust the analgesic regimen and secure better pain control. However, treatment intensification occurs haphazardly in practice. ⋯ TEC increases the likelihood of self-reported, physician-directed adjustments in analgesic prescribing, and treatment intensification is associated with better cancer pain outcomes.
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In advanced disease, the management of symptoms and lifestyle are essential for the maintenance of patients' quality of life. Appropriate education by health professionals can help patients to better manage their disease. Although the provision of education by health professionals for patients with advanced cancer is reasonably well documented, much less is known about how health professionals facilitate education with patients with other advanced progressive diseases. ⋯ Health professionals identify and acknowledge a range of factors that influence their ability to deliver education to patients with advanced disease. The types of circumstantial factors identified in this review can influence the successful delivery of educational interventions and need to be considered when such interventions are being developed.