scholarly journals Mindful Learning Improves Positive Feelings of Cancer Patients’ Family Caregivers

Author(s):  
Liuna Geng ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Liping Cheng ◽  
Binbin Zhang ◽  
Hui Shen

Positive feelings are an important health dimension for family caregivers of cancer patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Langerian mindfulness is a valid proactive method to increase the positive feelings of family caregivers for cancer patients. Participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness group or a mindlessness group and completed the Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) as a measure of caregivers’ feelings before the intervention. Subsequently, both groups were given four sessions of mindfulness training using “innovation classification”. Finally, participants completed the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) and the Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC) scale as post-intervention measures. The results revealed that participants in the mindfulness and mindlessness groups differed significantly in LMS and PAC scores, with the mindfulness group having higher levels of positive feelings than those in the mindlessness group. The results also indicated that mindfulness level significantly predicted positive feelings of caregivers. Thus mindful interventions may play a meaningful role in promoting family caregivers’ spirituality and faith, improving the willingness of sharing their thoughts, beliefs, and grief, which could be useful for increasing the positive feelings of caregivers.

Author(s):  
Miriam Romero-López ◽  
María Carmen Pichardo ◽  
Ana Justicia-Arráez ◽  
Judit Bembibre-Serrano

The objective of this study is to measure the effectiveness of a program on improving inhibitory and emotional control among children. In addition, it is assessed whether the improvement of these skills has an effect on the reduction of aggressive behavior in pre-school children. The participants were 100 children, 50 belonging to the control group and 50 to the experimental group, aged between 5 and 6 years. Pre-intervention and post-intervention measures of inhibitory and emotional control (BRIEF-P) and aggression (BASC) were taken. A Generalized Linear Mixed Model analysis (GLMM) was performed and found that children in the experimental group scored higher on inhibitory and emotional control compared to their peers in the control group. In addition, these improvements have an effect on the decrease in aggressiveness. In conclusion, preventive research should have among its priorities the design of such program given their implications for psychosocial development.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1977
Author(s):  
Francesca Falzarano ◽  
Holly G. Prigerson ◽  
Paul K. Maciejewski

Cancer patients and their family caregivers experience various losses when patients become terminally ill, yet little is known about the grief experienced by patients and caregivers and factors that influence grief as patients approach death. Additionally, few, if any, studies have explored associations between advance care planning (ACP) and grief resolution among cancer patients and caregivers. To fill this knowledge gap, the current study examined changes in grief over time in patients and their family caregivers and whether changes in patient grief are associated with changes in caregiver grief. We also sought to determine how grief changed following the completion of advance directives. The sample included advanced cancer patients and caregivers (n = 98 dyads) from Coping with Cancer III, a federally funded, multi-site prospective longitudinal study of end-stage cancer care. Participants were interviewed at baseline and at follow-up roughly 2 months later. Results suggest synchrony, whereby changes in patient grief were associated with changes in caregiver grief. We also found that patients who completed a living will (LW) experienced increases in grief, while caregivers of patients who completed a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order experienced reductions in grief, suggesting that ACP may prompt “grief work” in patients while promoting grief resolution in caregivers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 358-359
Author(s):  
Mary Grace Asirot ◽  
Anna Papazyan ◽  
Yeonsu Song

Abstract Traditionally, caregiving for individuals with dementia has been viewed as a negative experience. Understanding positive aspect of caregiving and related factors is important to improve health among family caregivers. We analyzed baseline data from an ongoing dyadic sleep education trial for individuals with dementia and their caregivers (N=21 dyads; mean age 70.8± 11.1 for caregivers, 80.5± 8.3 for care-recipients). The Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC 9-item) was used to assess subjective satisfaction with caregiving. Other measures included Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), SF-12 Health Survey (SF-12v2), Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Pearson correlations and t-tests were calculated for analyses. Caregivers most frequently endorsed that caregiving enabled them to appreciate life more (n=16 agreed a lot). Caregivers who began providing care within the first few months of the care-recipient needing care (n=16) had greater positive aspects of caregiving than those who started providing care sometime later (n=5) (36.37±7.33 versus 25.8±8.29, p=0.01). Caregivers with higher PAC scores had lower ZBI score (r=-0.49, p=0.02), better mental health on the SF-12v2 (r=0.53, p=0.01), less distress related to care-recipient behaviors on the RMBPC (r=-0.50, p=0.02), and lower PSQI subscale (perceived sleep quality) score (r= -0.46, p=0.04). Findings suggest that higher positive caregiving experience was associated with better mental health and sleep quality, and less burden and distress from the care-recipients behaviors. More research is needed to better understand this relationship and to determine possible interventions to increase positive aspects of caregiving.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Michèle Aubin ◽  
Lucie Vézina ◽  
René Verreault ◽  
Sébastien Simard ◽  
Éveline Hudon ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Diagnosis of cancer is emotionally threatening not only for patients but also for their family caregivers (FC) who witness and share much of the illness experience. This study compares distress experienced by lung cancer patients and their FC during the year following the diagnosis. Methods A prospective cohort study of 206 patients recently diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer (participation rate 79.5%) and 131 FC (participation rate 63.6%) was conducted in an ambulatory oncology clinic in Quebec City (Canada). They completed validated questionnaires regarding their personal and psychological characteristics (Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale—HADS), in the first months after the diagnosis of lung cancer and after 6 and 12 months. Univariate, bivariate, and linear mixed models were conducted to compare patient and FC distress. Results At baseline, 7.8% of patients reported distress (HADS total score >15) and their mean distress score was 7.0 ± 4.9 (range 0–42). In contrast, 33.6% of FC presented significant distress and their mean distress score was 12.0 ± 7.2 (P < 0.0001). Proportions of patients and FC with distress remained relatively stable at 6 and 12 months, and at every time point, FC reported higher levels of distress compared to their relative with cancer (P < 0.0001). Comparable trends were found when looking at the mean scores of distress, anxiety, and depression throughout the study. Significance of results Being diagnosed with lung cancer and going through its different phases seems to affect more FC than patients. The psychological impact of such diagnosis appears early after the diagnosis and does not significantly change over time. These findings reinforce the importance for oncology teams, to include FC in their systematic distress screening program, in order to help them cope with their own feelings and be able to play their role in patient support and care throughout the cancer journey.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 857-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Zavagli ◽  
Elisabetta Miglietta ◽  
Silvia Varani ◽  
Raffaella Pannuti ◽  
Gianni Brighetti ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (16) ◽  
pp. 3495-3507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Lobchuk ◽  
Lesley F. Degner

PURPOSE: This study used a comparative descriptive design to compare family caregivers’ and advanced-stage cancer patients’ perceptions of patients’ multidimensional symptom experiences on presence, frequency, severity, and distress. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A convenience sample of 98 dyads, composed of advanced-stage heterogeneous cancer patients and their caregivers, completed the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale in the home care setting on a one-time basis. This scale is a 32-item Likert-type scale for assessing the presence, frequency, severity, and distress arising from symptoms in cancer patients. RESULTS: There was confirmation of trends previously described in related studies where, for example, caregivers tend to overreport on symptom experiences. However, the degree of absolute difference between patient and caregiver responses was normally around 1 unit (on a theoretical range of 0 to 4 units). Levels of patient-caregiver agreement were better on more concrete questions related to symptom frequency, severity, and distress than on broad questions related to the presence of a symptom. Patients and caregivers achieved better levels of agreement on physical versus psychological symptoms. CONCLUSION: The findings indicated that family caregivers can provide reasonable proxy or complementary reports on patient symptom experiences of frequency, severity, and distress. However, family caregivers have greater difficulty in achieving high levels of accuracy on psychological versus physical symptoms.


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