Post-traumatic symptoms, emotional distress and quality of life in long-term survivors of breast cancer: a preliminary research

Depression and Suicide Ideas of Cancer Patients and Influencing Factors in South Korea

“…Our findings indicate that, similar to previous studies (Miller, 2000;Pirkis, 2000;Akechi et al, 2002;Akechi et al, 2002;Amir, 2002;Park et al, 2009;Ahn et al, 2010;Recklitis et al, 2010;Mitchell et al, 2011), female sex, more stress, and lower perceived quality of life were more likely to cause depression and suicidal ideation. The additional risk factors for suicidal ideation among cancer patients included income, smoking, recurrence, and chemotherapy.…”

“…By comprehensively incorporating the significant factors identified in previous studies (Charlson et al, 1987;Miller, 2000;Pirkis, 2000;Akechi et al, 2002;Akechi et al, 2002;Amir., 2002;Bruce et al, 2004;Pirkola, 2004;Bjorkenstam et al, 2005;Misono et al, 2008;Shin et al, 2008;Park et al, 2009;Ahn et al, 2010;Fanger et al, 2010;Recklitis et al, 2010;Shim, 2010;Shin et al, 2010;Mitchell et al, 2011), this study analyzed the influential parameters using depression and suicidal ideation as dependent variables, and sociodemographic characteristics, health-related behavior, clinical conditions, and quality of life as independent variables. Age, education, income (monthly income after cancer diagnosis), and marital status were categorized as sociodemographic characteristics, and smoking and alcohol consumption represented health-related behavior.…”

“…However, cancer patients reportedly find it difficult to continue a normal lifestyle due to depression and suicidal ideas (Zabora et al, 2001;Costanzo et al, 2007;Kamen et al, 2010;Maneeton et al, 2013). Accordingly, researchers worldwide have investigated the mental health of cancer patients (Akechi et al, 2002;Amir, 2002), and some have reported that patients with cancer or other negative prognoses are highly likely to become depressed or commit suicide (Bjorkenstam et al, 2005;Fanger et al, 2010). However, other recent studies have found no significant differences in the prevalence of depression between cancer patients and the general population, suggesting that different approaches need to be taken in terms of suicide prevention management for cancer patients (Mitchell et al, 2011).…”

Pathways for psychosocial care of cancer survivors

“…78 Long-term survivors of breast cancer have been shown to report high levels of full and partial PTSD, greater emotional distress, and lower physical and psychological quality of life than matched population controls. 79 Among breast cancer survivors, 37% report reexperiencing cancer-related events in the form of nightmares, flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts or emotions, and 11% report avoidance symptoms such as avoiding reminder thoughts and activities, and restricted affect or detachment characteristic of traumatic stress response. 76 Research has also shown that 5-13% of breast cancer survivors report subsyndromal PTSD symptoms, and 6 -13% meet criteria for full PTSD syndrome.…”

Cancer patients' desire for psychological support: prevalence and implications for screening patients' psychological needs

“…We hypothesized that patients sociodemographic characteristics such as being a woman, being younger, having a higher education level, being professionally active would positively influence their desire for psychological support as those factors have been shown to influence reported distress and help-seeking in the general population [27][28][29][30][31][32]. We also hypothesized that disease-and treatment-related characteristics such as having breast cancer and being in chemotherapy would influence this desire as psychological difficulties associated with breast cancer and chemotherapy have been widely discussed and recognized [33][34][35][36]. Finally, we hypothesized that patient psychological factors such as coping styles and patients' distress would influence their desire for psychological support.…”