Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Distinguishing between spiritual distress, general distress, spiritual well-being, and spiritual pain among cancer patients during oncology treatment.
Spiritual distress is present in approximately 25% of oncology patients. ⋯ The DT is not sufficient to identify spiritual distress. The peace subscale of FACIT-Sp-12 is a better match than the measure as a whole. The SIS is the best match for spiritual distress, although an imperfect one.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialUnderstanding Response Rates to Surveys about Family Members' Psychological Symptoms after Patients' Critical Illness.
Achieving adequate response rates from family members of critically ill patients can be challenging, especially when assessing psychological symptoms. ⋯ We identified several predictors of the receipt of surveys assessing psychological symptoms in family of critically ill patients, including family member health status and attachment style. Using these characteristics to inform follow-up mailings and reminders may enhance response rates.
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Accurate estimation of life expectancy in patients with brain metastases is critical for counseling and choosing appropriate therapy. Performance status is the single greatest determinant of overall survival in this population. However, current measures of performance status are subjective and often based on brief clinical encounters. Gait speed is an objective, reliable predictor of overall health and survival. ⋯ Gait speed is associated with overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases. Gait speed assessment is simple, objective, and may provide additional prognostic information to improve life expectancy estimation and management decisions.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Symptom Trajectories in Children Receiving Treatment for Leukemia: A Latent Class Growth Analysis with Multitrajectory Modeling.
Cancer treatment symptoms play a major role in determining the health of children with cancer. Symptom toxicity often results in complications, treatment delays, and therapy dose reductions that can compromise leukemia therapy and jeopardize chances for long-term survival. Critical to understanding symptom experiences during treatment is the need for exploration of "why" inter-individual symptom differences occur; this will determine who may be most susceptible to treatment toxicities. ⋯ This study is unique in that groups of patients with similar symptoms were identified rather than groups of symptoms. Further research using latent class growth analysis is needed.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialPerceived Family Functioning Predicts Baseline Psychosocial Characteristics in U.S. Participants of a Family Focused Grief Therapy Trial.
Screening and baseline data on 170 American families (620 individuals), selected by screening from a palliative care population for inclusion in a randomized controlled trial of family-focused grief therapy, were examined to determine whether family dysfunction conferred higher levels of psychosocial morbidity. We hypothesized that greater family dysfunction would, indeed, be associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes among palliative care patients and their family members. ⋯ As predicted, significantly greater levels of individual psychosocial morbidity were present in American families whose functioning as a group was poorer. Support was generated for a clinical approach that screens families to identify those at high risk. Overall, these baseline data point to the importance of a family-centered model of care.