Quality of life and dyadic adjustment in oral cancer patients and their female partners

Jenewein, Josef; Zwahlen, Roger A.; Zwahlen, Diana; Drabe, Natalie; Moergeli, Hanspeter; Büchi, Stefan

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2354.2007.00817.x

Cited by 56 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…In contrast, advanced-stage carci noma patients show a subjective QoL that seems significantly lower as compared to ALS patients (Fegg et al, 2005) and which continues to decline as the disease leads to progressive physical impairment (Frick et al, 2007;Jenewein et al, 2008). Patients with severe paralysis leading in its most extreme form to a LIS seem to experience a subjective QoL that is better than that of patients with terminal cancer, and comparable to that of patients with nonterminal chronic disease (McGee et al, 1991;Moons et al, 2004).…”

Section: Quality Of Lifementioning

confidence: 82%

Life can be worth living in locked-in syndrome

Lulé

Zickler

Häcker

et al. 2009

Progress in Brain Research

168

104

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The locked-in syndrome (LIS) describes patients who are awake and conscious but severely deefferented leaving the patient in a state of almost complete immobility and loss of verbal communication. The etiology ranges from acute (e.g., brainstem stroke, which is the most frequent cause of LIS) to chronic causes (e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS). In this article we review and present new data on the psychosocial adjustment to LIS. We refer to quality of life (QoL) and the degree of depressive symptoms as a measure of psychosocial adjustment. Various studies suggest that despite their extreme motor impairment, a significant number of LIS patients maintain a good QoL that seems unrelated to their state of physical functioning. Likewise, depression is not predicted by the physical state of the patients. A successful psychological adjustment to the disease was shown to be related to problem-oriented coping strategies, like seeking for information, and emotional coping strategies like denial -the latter may, nevertheless, vary with disease stage. Perceived social support seems to be the strongest predictor of psychosocial adjustment. QoL in LIS patients is often in the same range as in age-matched healthy individuals. Interestingly, there is evidence that significant others, like primary caregivers or spouses, rate LIS patients' QoL significantly lower than the patients themselves. With regard to depressed mood, ALS patients without symptoms focus significantly more often on internal factors that can be retained in the course of the disease contrary to patients with depressive symptoms who preferably name external factors as very important, such as health, which will degrade in the course of the disease. Typically, ALS patients with a higher degree of depressive symptoms experience significantly less ''very pleasant'' situations. The herein presented data strongly question the assumption among doctors, health-care workers, lay persons, and politicians that severe motor disability necessarily is intolerable and leads to end-of-life decisions or euthanasia. Existing evidence supports that biased clinicians provide less-aggressive medical treatment in LIS patients. Thus, psychological treatment for depression, effective strategies for coping with the disease, and support concerning the maintenance of the social network are needed to cope with the disease. Novel communication devices and assistive technology now offers an increasing number of LIS patients to resume a meaningful life and an active role in society.

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Section: Quality Of Lifementioning

confidence: 82%

Life can be worth living in locked-in syndrome

Lulé

Zickler

Häcker

et al. 2009

Progress in Brain Research

168

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Developed by the researchers upon the literature review [10,12,21,23] the questionnaire consisted of 20 questions examining the patients' socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, educational level, income, marriage duration and type) and disease-related information (duration to diagnosis, duration of HD, additional chronic diseases, etc. ).…”

Section: Patient Information Formmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous studies have revealed that chronic diseases lead to serious impairments in the marital relationships [10][11][12]. Chronic diseases can directly affect the marital adjustment of the couples as a result of the related symptoms and complications [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Symptoms Related to Hemodialysis Affect Marital Adjustment?

et al. 2016

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All the symptoms experienced by patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) impair their social lives including family relationships and marital adjustment. The purpose of this descriptive study is to determine the effect of HD symptoms on marital adjustment. The study included 282 voluntary patients who were aged 18 or over and were receiving HD treatment for at least 6 months. The data were collected by using a Patient Information Form, Dialysis Symptom Index (DSI), and Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) through face-to-face interviews. The results obtained in this study indicated that the most common symptoms experienced by patients were feeling tired or lack of energy. DSI scores of the patients were found to be negatively correlated with their RDAS scores at significant level (q = -0.300, p \ 0.05). The symptoms experienced by patients undergoing HD were also observed to have a negative effect on their marital adjustment.

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“…Mit seiner Konzeptualisierung der "Alexithymie" schuf Sifneos die Voraussetzungen zur Operationalisierung eines multidimensionalen Persönlichkeitskonstrukts, das durch die Schwierigkeit, Gefühle wahrzunehmen und zu kommunizieren, und eine reduzierte Fähigkeit zu fantasieren, die sich auch in einer Tendenz zu external orientiertem Denken ausdrückt, charakterisiert ist [26]. Die Entwicklung entsprechender valider Messinstrumente ermög-lichte, Zusammenhänge zwischen alexithymen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen und verschiedenen Erkrankungen empirisch zu untersuchen [7,14,28]. Dadurch konnte ein Zusammenhang zwischen Alexithymie und Somatisierung empirisch in der Allgemeinbevölkerung [18] sowie bei Patienten mit somatoformen und funktionellen Störungen [31] untersucht und im Verlauf der Zeit mehrfach bestätigt werden.…”

Section: Lebensqualität Und Alexithyme Merkmale Bei Patienten Mit Somunclassified

“…(SD=20,89). Auch im Vergleich zu Patienten mit Mundhöhlenkrebs, die z. T. mit erheblichen krankheitsbedingten Behinderungen und der Ungewissheit einer lebensbedrohlichen Erkrankung leben müs-sen, wiesen die Schmerzpatienten eine deutlich reduzierte QoL auf [14]. Obwohl ein direkter Vergleich aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Gruppencharakterisierung schwierig erscheint, ist die Beeinträchti-gung der allgemeinen gesundheitsbezogenen QoL der untersuchten Schmerzpatienten beachtenswert.…”

Section: Diskussionunclassified