scholarly journals Pschychosocial support for distressed parents of Pediatric cancer patients

2019 ◽  
pp. 76-81
Author(s):  
VIRENDER SUHAG ◽  
SUNITA BS ◽  
PANKAJ Vats ◽  
Nishant Lohia ◽  
Tejas Pandya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Psychosocial Functioning ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Parental Distress ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Children With Cancer ◽  
Treatment Side Effects ◽  
Pediatric Cancer Patients ◽  
Long Time ◽  
After Cancer

Survival rates for childhood cancer diagnosed before the age of 18 years have improved due to aggressive multidisciplinary therapeutic approaches. Parents have been found to be psychologically affected by their child’s diagnosis, treatment, side-effects of the treatment and child’s health status. Though parental emotional difficulties, such as depression and anxiety, have been reported to decrease after cancer treatment, parents continue to experience chronic post-traumatic stress (PTS) for a long time after their child’s treatment. Parents may also report persistent feelings of loss, uncertainty, and anxiety about the recurrence of the disease or the emergence of late effects in their child. Such illness-specific distress of the parents should be assessed in order to fully understand their psychosocial functioning. Sensitizing health care professionals to the identification of this factor and its associated difficulties is essential for the implementation of efficient intervention strategies. General health of parents plays an important role in continuation of care for the sick child and the treatment follow up. Parental distress and PTS are associated with the emotional and behavioral functioning of children with cancer. There is a genuine need to offer programs of psychological attention to parents of children with cancer in order to reduce their emotional and cognitive psychopathology and to help them adopt adequate coping strategies.

scholarly journals Post-traumatic stress, depression, and community integration a long time after whiplash injury

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt-Marie Stålnacke
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Psychosocial Functioning ◽  
Whiplash Injury ◽  
Community Integration ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Impact Of Event Scale ◽  
Event Scale ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Post Traumatic

Psychological factors such as post-traumatic stress and depression may play an important role in the recovery after whiplash injuries. Difficulties in psychosocial functioning with limitations in everyday life may dominate for some time after the injury. Our study therefore investigates the relationships between pain, post-traumatic stress, depression, and community integration. A set of questionnaires was answered by 191 persons (88 men, 103 women) five years after a whiplash injury to assess pain intensity (visual analogue scale, VAS), whiplash-related symptoms, post-traumatic stress (impact of event scale, IES), depression (Beck depression inventory, BDIII), community integration (community integration questionnaire, CIQ), life satisfaction (LiSat-11). One or more depressive symptoms were reported by 74% of persons; 22% reported scores that were classified as mild to severe depression. The presence of at least one post-traumatic symptom was reported by 70% of persons, and 38% reported mild to severe stress. Total scores of community integration for women were statistically significantly higher than for men. The total VAS score was correlated positively to the IES (r=0.456, P<0.456), the BDI (r=0.646, P<0.001), and negatively to the CIQ (r=-0.300, P<0.001). These results highlight the view that a significant proportion of people experience both pain and psychological difficulties for a long time after a whiplash injury. These findings should be taken into consideration in the management of subjects with chronic whiplash symptoms and may support a multi-professional rehabilitation model that integrates physical, psychological, and psychosocial factors.

Refining Patient-Centered Measures of End-of-Life Care Quality for Children With Cancer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasanna Ananth ◽  
Sophia Mun ◽  
Noora Reffat ◽  
Soo Jung Kang ◽  
Sarah Pitafi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Children With Cancer ◽  
Symptom Screening ◽  
Palliative Care Consultation ◽  
Patient Reported

PURPOSE: There are no existing quality measures (QMs) to optimize end-of-life care for children with cancer. Previously, we developed a set of 26 candidate QMs. Our primary objective in this study was to achieve stakeholder consensus on priority measures. METHODS: We conducted an iterative, cross-sectional electronic survey, using a modified Delphi method to build consensus among clinician and family stakeholders. In each of the two rounds of surveys, stakeholders were asked to rate QMs on a 9-point Likert scale, on the basis of perceived importance. Health care professionals were additionally asked to rate measures on perceived feasibility. After each round, we computed median scores on importance and feasibility of measurement, retaining QMs with median importance scores ≥ 8. RESULTS: Twenty-five participants completed both rounds of the survey. In round 1, participants were asked to rate 26 QMs; nine QMs, including QMs pertaining to health care use, were removed because of median importance scores < 8. Two new measures were proposed for consideration in round 2, on the basis of participant feedback. Following round 2, 17 QMs were ultimately retained. QMs related to symptom screening and palliative care consultation were rated highly in importance and feasibility. QMs related to communication were rated highly important, yet less feasible. Measuring whether a patient's needs were heard by their health care team was rated among the least feasible. CONCLUSION: Childhood cancer stakeholders prioritized QMs pertaining to patient-reported outcomes, deeming measures of health care resource use less important. Future research should seek to develop novel tools for quality assessment to enhance feasibility of implementing priority measures.

scholarly journals Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Versha Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Mental Condition ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Personal Protection Equipment ◽  
The Impact

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has heavily burdened, and in many cases overwhelmed, healthcare systems including healthcare workers. The novel COVID-19 started from Wuhan in mainland China. Since then it has affected most of the nations and continents because of its rapid spread. Most commonly affected are the healthcare professionals who are working on the frontline. The COVID-19 epidemic has mushroomed globally, disrupting the existence of millions It is a generalized mental condition occurring without any trigger or stimulus. Various symptoms of depression are: anxious, sad and empty feelings, hopelessness, guilt and may be sense of helplessness, restless attitude, irritation, and lack of interest in various hobbies and activities and were once considered relax able and which are used to provide pleasure. Furthermore, healthcare workers reported mental health problems putatively associated with healthcare workers’ occupational activities during and up until years after epidemics, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress, burnout, depression and anxiety. As for lack of material, a high percentage of professionals are getting infected for not having adequate personal protection equipment (PPE) and not using it properly, having to re-use in many occasions equipment which is only recommended for one-time utilization. During work performed by healthcare workers, several pressure elements from different sources may impact on keeping optimal conditions for a healthy working environment, and because of the saturation of the sanitary facilities due to the high level of virus infection, the health of these professionals has been obviously affected. While the main focus is concentrated on laboratory testing, finding the disease cure and prevention of transmission, all individuals are undergoing a plethora of psychological problems while adjusting to current lifestyles and disease fear. In current study, an attempt has been made to find out the impact of this pandemic situation on psychological well-being of healthcare and non-healthcare workers. Our study has reported identical findings to those reported by numerous investigators working across the globe. The present paper has outlined the stressors which the frontline health care professionals have faced including fear of spreading disease to co-workers and members of the family, irregular sleep patterns, abrupt work cycles, and lack of adequate training skills in dealing with such a novel situation.

scholarly journals Paediatric paediatric tracheostomy: Changing indications and key complications

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 175-180
Author(s):  
Guilherme Movio ◽  
Ms Shadaba Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Ventilatory Support ◽  
Upper Airway ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Airway Obstructions ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Indications And Complications

Background: Paediatric Tracheostomy is a procedure used to ventilate children through a hole in the trachea. Indications for the procedure were once primarily for acute upper airway obstruction due to infections but have now changed. Generally, there is poor knowledge surrounding tracheostomies and a limited knowledge of guidelines amongst health-care professionals. Aim: The aim of this review is to discuss the basis of changes to the indications of paediatric tracheostomy. It  will also investigate the key complications related to the procedure and discuss the importance of multidisciplinary teams being aware of the emergency algorithms for dealing with such complications. Findings: Indications have changed due to advancements in medicine with increased life expectancy and survival rates for children with often life threatening congenital conditions. Tracheostomies can offer these children long term ventilatory support. Upper airway obstructions due to infections are now infrequently indicated for tracheostomy due to successful vaccination programs. Complications today are because of obstructions and decannulations. Intra-operative complications are infrequent, due to refinements in surgical technique. Conclusion: Paediatric Tracheostomy is a rapidly evolving field because of continuous advancements in neonatal and intensive care medicine. The indications and complications have changed together over the last four decades. A greater understanding of tracheostomy complications is requiredfor successful management.

scholarly journals Long term post-traumatic stress disorders among the earthquake affected people of Sindhupalchwok, Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 5643
Author(s):  
Laxmi Gautam ◽  
Durga Khadka Mishra ◽  
Gobind Prasad Pant ◽  
Rabina Khadka ◽  
Prakash Datt Chataut ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Stress Disorders ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Loved One ◽  
Mentally Disabled ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
Traumatic Stress Disorders

Background: People who are suffering from PTSD have disturbing feelings and thoughts which is related to their experience even after a long time of such traumatic events happened. This study highlight the characteristics and prevalence of PTSD among the earthquake survivors.Methods: Cross sectional study was carried out using standard PCL-5 PTSD questionnaire. Interview was taken among 376 survivors of earthquake after 4 years of earthquake in Sindhupalchok. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were used to describe data and test association.Results: The mean age of the respondents was 39.47±16.18 years. Almost 2/5th of the respondents were either buried, injured or physically or mentally disabled during earthquake. Majority of the survivors had loss their loved one while most of them loss their property. Among the respondents who were buried 28.6% had develop PTSD which was 22.2% among physical or mental disable during earthquake. PTSD showed significant association with age, loss of known person and loss of property however didn’t show with gender, caste, experience of earthquake and so on. The prevalence of PTSD was 71 (21.5%) out of 331 respondents. Female (63.4%) were more prone to PTSD than male (36.6%).Conclusions: PTSD is prevalent among 21.5% of survivors even after 4 years of earthquake which showed an urgent need to address PTSD among the respondents and immediate intervention to prevent and treat such problems in case of future disasters. 

Development of the Caregiving Burden Scale for Family Caregivers of Children with Cancer

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110411
Author(s):  
Hamide Nur Çevik Özdemir ◽  
Selmin Şenol
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Family Caregivers ◽  
Delphi Technique ◽  
Psychosocial Health ◽  
Item Pool ◽  
Children With Cancer ◽  
Caregiving Burden ◽  
Pediatric Cancer Patients ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Burden Scale

Due to the burden of caregiving, family caregivers of children with cancer suffer from physical and psychosocial health problems. The aim of this study was to develop a Caregiving Burden Scale for Family Caregivers of Children with Cancer (CBSFC-CC) and to assess its psychometric properties. A methodological, descriptive study design was conducted. The study sample consisted of 217 family caregivers caring for children with cancer between the ages of 0 and 18 years. The item pool of the scale was created using the Delphi Technique. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the overall scale was 0.93. The item-total score correlations ranged from 0.424 to 0.645. The exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale explained 68.34% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis also showed that the factor loadings of the scale ranged from 0.46 to 0.96. NNFI, CFI, and IFI were found to be > 0.90, and RMSEA was found to be < 0.09. The CBSFC-CC was found to be a good multidimensional instrument for evaluating the burden on family caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. It can be used in clinical practice and research. This tool can be considered to tailor interventions aimed at improving caregiver outcomes.

Oncofertility

2021 ◽  
pp. 136-150
Author(s):  
Bruno Ramalho de Carvalho ◽  
Jhenifer Kliemchen Rodrigues ◽  
Teresa K. Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Functional Failure ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
After Cancer ◽  
Reproductive Consequences

Advances in cancer treatment, particularly chemotherapeutics, are expected to lead to significant improvements in survival rates. While cancer incidence and death rates are decreasing, quality of life after cancer may be reduced due to early functional failure of the gonads and, consequently, infertility, resulting from either the disease itself or its treatment. This chapter introduces clinicians to the new field of oncofertility and the ethical issues it raises. It will consider the situation of young cancer patients facing reproductive consequences globally, the retrieval of gametes or gonadal tissue from minors, and the use of these tissues long term. The field of oncofertility is new, but ethical considerations regarding reproductive interventions are old. Understanding how we approach these issues on a personal level and from the public’s perspective will be assessed in this chapter.

Haemato- oncology and malignancy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stevan R. Emmett ◽  
Nicola Hill ◽  
Federico Dajas-Bailador
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Unknown Primary ◽  
Diagnostic Strategies ◽  
Diagnostic Skills ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
General Improvement ◽  
After Cancer ◽  
The Uk

Cancer is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Kingdom (UK), affecting approximately two out of every five people during their lifetime. In 2015 there was an estimated 2.5 million people in the UK who had had a cancer diagnosis, an increase of almost half a million in the previous 5 years. The proportion of people living longer after cancer is increasing, and the number of people alive more than 5 years from initial diagnosis is predicted to more than double between 2010 and 2030 to 2.7 million. By the end of 2020, more than a thousand people would have been diagnosed with cancer every day in the UK. Cancer can affect all organs of the body with over 200 types identified. However, only a small number of cancer types account for most cases. Over half of all new diagnoses are due to four cancers (in order of frequency)— breast, pros­tate, lung, and bowel. In 2011 there were approximately 50 000 new diagnoses of breast cancer in the UK. The in­cidence of cancer diagnosis is increasing year on year, in part due to improving diagnostic skills, but also because of an increasing elderly population. Cancer of unknown primary origin accounts for about 3% of total cancers. Although UK statistics show a general improvement in the 5-year survival rates for the majority of common cancers, some have not shown any notable improvement. Survival is not only determined by the type of cancer, but also the age at diagnosis, stage, and co- morbidities such as heart, pulmonary, and renal disease, which can affect the treatment regimen. As well as this, certain cancers carry a significantly worse prognosis than others. For example, 10- year survival for pancreatic and lung cancer are 1% and 5%, respectively. In comparison, the 10- year survival for testicular cancer is over 98% and almost 90% in skin con­fined melanoma. Newer diagnostic strategies are expected to detect all cancers early, allowing prompt intervention, and improving both morbidity and mortality rates further. Cancer is a product of mutations in genes involved in controlling cell growth, differentiation, and death (apop­tosis).

scholarly journals Psychosocial Functioning of Young Children Treated for Cancer: Findings From a Clinical Sample

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Lauren E. Cox ◽  
Ansley E. Kenney ◽  
Jennifer L. Harman ◽  
Niki Jurbergs ◽  
Andrew E. Molnar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Brain Tumors ◽  
Psychosocial Functioning ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Behavioral Symptoms ◽  
Children With Cancer ◽  
Normal Limits ◽  
Pediatric Cancers

Objectives: Many pediatric cancers are diagnosed in early childhood, a time of significant growth and development that lays the foundations for overall adjustment and functioning. The objective of this article was to characterize the psychosocial functioning of young children with cancer. Method: Data from a sample of young children with cancer ( N = 92) who completed a psychological evaluation that included the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children–second edition (BASC-2) parent report were abstracted from the medical record. Patients were primarily White (70.7%), male (54.3%), and 4.81 ± 0.89 years old at evaluation. Most were treated for brain tumors (64.1%). Results: Overall group means on each of the BASC-2 subscales were within normal limits, though significantly more patients than expected had elevated scores on the Internalizing and Behavioral Symptoms indexes. Patients who were on-treatment had higher mean overall Internalizing Problems scores, as well as greater Anxiety and Somatization scores, than those who were off-treatment (Wilks’s λ = 0.75, p < .001). Patients treated for brain tumors had lower mean Activities of Daily Living scores than those with other diagnoses ( F = 15.81, p < .001). Conclusions: Findings from this clinically referred sample indicate that while most young children with cancer are doing well psychosocially, approximately 20% to 30% demonstrated difficulties in at least one area. Findings support the need for monitoring of young children with cancer as well as appropriate intervention services.

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