The growing interest in the mental health and quality of life of cancer patients, has been the major reason for conducting this study. The aims were to compare advanced cancer patients' responses to Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale with those to European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30, version 3.0), as well as the impact of quality of life dimensions (as measured by EORTC QLQ-C30) on the levels of anxiety and depression. The analysis, conducted in 120 advanced cancer patients, showed that the most significant associations were found between emotional functioning and HAD-T (total sum of scores) (r=-0.747; p < 0.0005), HAD-A (anxiety) (r=-0.725; p < 0.0005) and HAD-D (depression) (r=-0.553; p < 0.0005). In the prediction of HAD-T, the contribution of physical, emotional, role, and social functioning along with nausea-vomiting, dyspnea, sleep disturbance and gender is high. For anxiety, the predictor variables were physical, role, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning, followed by dyspnea, sleep disturbance, and appetite loss, while depression was predicted by physical, role, emotional, and social functioning, the symptoms of nausea-vomiting, pain, sleep disturbance, constipation, as well as the variables of age, gender, anticancer treatment and performance status. Concluding, psychological morbidity, in this patient population, was predominantly predicted by the emotional functioning dimension of EORTC QLQ-C30.

The relationship between truth telling and culture has been the subject of increasing attention in the literature. The issue of whether, how and how much to tell cancer patients concerning diagnosis is still approached differently depending on country and culture. The majority of physicians tell the truth more often today than in the past, in both developed and developing countries, but most of them prefer to disclose the truth to the next of kin. Nurses in Anglo-Saxon countries are considered to be the most suitable health-care professionals for the patients to share their thoughts and feelings with. Nevertheless, in most other cultures the final decision on information disclosure lies with the treating physician. Regardless of cultural origin, the diagnosis of cancer affects both family structure and family dynamics. In most cases patients' families, in an effort to protect them from despair and a feeling of hopelessness, exclude the patient from the process of information exchange. The health-care team-patient relationship is a triangle consisting of the health-care professional, the patient and the family. Each part supports the other two and is affected by the cultural background of each of the others as well as the changes that occur within the triangle.

Objective: The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) is a pain assessment tool. It has been translated into and validated in several languages. The purpose of this study was the translation into and validation of the BPI in Greek. Moreover, we wanted to detect cultural and social differences, if any, of pain interference in patients’ lives. Methods: The translation and validation of the inventory took place at the Areteion Hospital. The final validation sample consisted of 220 cancer patients (123 males, 97 females, age range 21–87 years, mean age 61.3). Primary cancer locations were lung 25.6%, gastrointestinal tract 25.6%, breast 11.5%, prostate 7.07%, gynecological cancers 9.6% and others 20.57%. The patients themselves completed the majority of the Greek BPI (G-BPI) papers. The pain management index (PMI) was also calculated in order to assess the adequacy of pain treatment. Assessing the reliability and the validity made the actual validation of the G-BPI. Results: Pain severity and pain management: 147 patients reported severe pain, 48 patients moderate, and 25 patients mild pain (mean average pain 6.22). From these patients only 21 were found on strong and 33 on weak opioid treatment, while 166 patients were found on no opioid analgesic treatment. In agreement with these data is the PMI which was positive only for 9 patients, while 44 patients had PMI = 0 and all the others had negative PMI scores. Reliability and Validity of the G-BPI: Coefficient alphas were 0.849 for the interference items and 0.887 for the severity items. Additionally, the factor analysis of the G-BPI items results in a two-factor solution, that satisfies the criteria of reproducibility, interpretability and confirmatory setting. Conclusion: This study shows the efficacy of the G-BPI for the assessment of pain severity as well as the pain management in Greece, and therefore its utility in improving the analgesic treatment outcome in Greek patients.

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The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between sleep quality, pain, psychological distress, cognitive status and post-traumatic experience in advanced cancer patients. Participants were 82 advanced cancer patients referred to a palliative care unit for control of pain and other symptoms. A variety of assessment tools were used to examine the prevalence of sleep disturbance, the severity of pain and depression, hopelessness, cognitive function and quality of life. Using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) 96% of patients were 'poor sleepers'. Statistically significant associations were found between PSQI and the SF-12 (Short Form-12) Quality of Life Instrument (MCS, P < 0.0005, PCS, P < 0.0005), depression (Greek Depression Inventory) (P < 0.0005) and hopelessness (Beck Hopelessness Scale) (P = 0.003). Strong associations were also found between PSQI and IES-R (Impact of Event Scale-Revised) (P = 0.004). The strongest predictors of poor sleep quality in this model were MCS (P < 0.0005), PCS (P < 0.0005) and IES-R (P = 0.010). Post-traumatic experience and quality of life seemed to be the strongest predictors of sleep quality in a sample of advanced cancer patients referred for palliative care.