Coping with cancer and a history of health-related events

Abstract

Background Cancer is a source of stress related to the resulting change in lifestyle. The processes which take place when a patient is coping with a disease may be explained in terms of the transactional concept of psychological stress (Lazarus, Folkman) and the critical life events model (Filipp). These two complementary theoretical approaches set the direction and aim of the study which was to determine the role played by earlier events responsible for health loss due to a chronic, serious disease in the course of a stress transaction in cancer patients. Materials and methods The study involved 121 patients with either breast or colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy as part of their treatment. They were asked to complete a purpose-designed set of questionnaires which included Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R), the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC) questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS). The interdependencies between variables were determined using difference significance tests (Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis) and the Dunn’s correction test. The significance level (alpha) of 0.05 was assumed appropriate for the study. Results Patients with previous health-related events were found to expect the struggle with cancer to be a greater and more serious challenge. Those patients had suffered loss of health prior to getting cancer and their emotional reactions were heightened. This finding allowed the identification of patients more prone to creating a negative view of their disease. Conclusions When planning a psychological treatment of patients with cancer, an account must be taken of their past life events and earlier experiences of being ill, in order to implement appropriate psychological intervention aimed at reducing their emotional stress.

A retrospective analysis of haematological side effects of olaparib in excess-weight and normal BMI patients with ovarian cancer

“…Grade ≥ 3 adverse reactions were observed in more than 2% of the patients and included: anaemia (16%), neutropenia (6%), fatigue/asthenia (5%), leukopenia (3%), thrombocytopenia (3%), and vomiting (2%). Increasing fatigue may have been mostly caused by the therapy the patients were undergoing as they complained of impaired cognitive functions, including concentration and memory problems [1]. The most common adverse reactions observed in the clinical trials, which usually led to interruption of the therapy and/or dose reduction, were: anaemia (16.2%), vomiting (6.8%), nausea (6.2%), neutropenia (6.2%), and fatigue/asthenia (6.0%).…”

“…In Poland, it is the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular dysfunction. Although there is huge public awareness of cancer and a lot of preventive screening tests, it is still the most common cause of death worldwide [1]. Scientists have conducted numerous clinical trials to change the standard treatment of cancer.…”

The Illness Perceptions and Coping Experiences of Patients with Colorectal Cancer and Their Spousal Caregivers: A Qualitative Study

“…IP reflects individual understandings and explanations about a current disease or current symptoms, including cognitive and emotional perceptions, based on preserved knowledge and disease experiences. The vital significance and influence of IP in psychological research in the rehabilitation of patients with malignancy has also been gradually recognized and explored in recent years [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], including CRC [ 19 , 20 ].…”