Assessing cancer-related distress in cancer patients and caregivers receiving outpatient psycho-oncological counseling

Abstract

Caregivers seem to experience cancer-related distress equal to or even more severely than patients themselves. Results suggest that there is a need for more low-threshold offers of outpatient psycho-oncological counseling for caregivers.

Risk and Predictors of Suicide in Colorectal Cancer Patients: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Analysis

“…The desire for hastened death in advanced and terminally ill cancer patients correlates with physical symptoms, quality of life, and the perception of being a burden to others 6 . In addition, an increase in morbidity, declining performance status, and the need for ongoing treatment (all commonly seen in advanced cancer patients) increase the risk for comorbid depression 1 and apply significant stress, both perceived and actual, on caregivers [26][27][28][29] . Patients could view suicide as a strategy to relieve stress on the family.…”

Social constraints and psychological well‐being after prostate cancer: A follow‐up at 12 and 24 months after surgery

“…It is possible that the most important source of support (or lack thereof), affecting a patient's adjustment to prostate cancer surgery, is the partner as he/she is often the most involved in the patient's illness and is often called upon for provision of caregiving and emotional support . Understandably, however, the demands placed on the partner may be overwhelming, especially as he/she may also experience distress throughout the prostate cancer experience …”

Next of kin's motives for psychosocial consultation—Oncology social workers' perceptions of 54 next of kin cases

“…A few motives also concerned bereavement follow‐up, but these motives lacked any further description about the content in the consultation, eg, whether it merely was an evaluation of the palliative support that the patient had received or whether it focused upon the situation of the NOK (including grief and life transition). These results show that the OSWs' function is multifaceted and that not all motives concern anxiety, sorrow, and distress related to the patients' situation, which are usually emphasised in research regarding NOK . On the contrary, the motives among the NOK in this study might be seen as good examples of how NOK are balancing between dealing with sorrow and despair due to the threat of losing their loved one on the one hand and being preoccupied with their own transition from being a partner or adult child to also being the NOK to a severely sick person and having to carry on and manage their everyday life on the other …”