Psychosocial well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic among women with and without breast cancer.

Objective: Treatment delays in combination with general social distancing practices to reduce transmission may have negative impacts on the mental health of women with breast cancer who may need more social and emotional support. We sought to elucidate the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among women with and without breast cancer in New York City.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study among women aged 18+ across the spectrum of breast health care at New York Presbyterian (NYP)-Weill Cornell, NYP-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and NYP-Queens.

Impact of the COVID-19 breast cancer screening hiatus on clinical stage and racial disparities in New York City.

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 mammography screening hiatus as well as of post-hiatus efforts promoting restoration of elective healthcare on breast cancer detection patterns and stage distribution is unknown.

Methods: Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients (2019-2021) at the New York Presbyterian (NYP) Hospital Network were analyzed. Chi-square and student's t-test compared characteristics of patients presenting before and after the screening hiatus.

Cancer worry and empathy moderate the effect of a survivorship-focused intervention on quality of life.

Objective: This study examined the impact of a survivorship planning consultation (SPC) for patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma and diffuses large B-cell lymphoma on quality of life (QOL). We specifically assessed two potential moderators, cancer worry and perceived empathy, of the intervention effects on QOL.

Methods: This cluster randomized, four-site trial examined the efficacy of a SPC; physicians received communication skills training and applied these skills in a survivorship-focused office visit using a care plan vs a control arm in which physicians were trained to and subsequently provided a time-controlled, manualized wellness rehabilitation consultation focused only on discussion of healthy nutrition and exercise.

Patient Spirituality as a Component of Supportive Care: Assessment and Intervention.

National supportive care guidelines for patients with cancer include recognition of patients' spirituality and spiritual needs. Experts differ on how best to address this dimension to our patients' lives. Some suggest that patients' medical team should take on spiritual care, and others suggest referral to chaplains or collaboration with outside clergy.

On the disenchantment of medicine: Abraham Joshua Heschel's 1964 address to the American Medical Association.

In 1964, the American Medical Association invited liberal theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) to address its annual meeting in a program entitled "The Patient as a Person" [1]. Unsurprisingly, in light of Heschel's reputation for outspokenness, he launched a jeremiad against physicians, claiming: "The admiration for medical science is increasing, the respect for its practitioners is decreasing. The depreciation of the image of the doctor is bound to disseminate disenchantment and to affect the state of medicine itself" [1, p.

Efficacy of a survivorship-focused consultation versus a time-controlled rehabilitation consultation in patients with lymphoma: A cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Survivors of cancer often describe a sense of abandonment after treatment along with heightened uncertainty and limited knowledge of what lies ahead. This study examined the efficacy of a survivorship care plan (SCP) intervention to help physicians to address survivorship issues through communication skills training plus a new consultation focused on the use of an SCP for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Methods: This 4-site cluster randomized trial examined the efficacy of a survivorship planning consultation (SPC) in patients who achieved complete remission after the completion of first-line therapy (for the SPC, physicians received communication skills training and, using an SCP, applied those skills in a survivorship-focused office visit) versus a control arm in which physicians were trained in and subsequently provided a time-controlled, manualized wellness rehabilitation consultation (WRC) focused only on discussion of healthy nutrition and exercise as rehabilitation after chemotherapy.

Spiritual Needs and Perception of Quality of Care and Satisfaction With Care in Hematology/Medical Oncology Patients: A Multicultural Assessment.

Context: Assessment and response to patients' spiritual concerns are crucial components of high-quality supportive care. Better measures of spiritual needs across the cultural spectrum may help direct necessary interventions.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess spiritual needs in a racially/ethnically and religiously mixed sample of hematology and oncology outpatients and examine the association between spiritual needs and perception of quality of care and satisfaction with care.

The Trial of Ascertaining Individual Preferences for Loved Ones' Role in End-of-Life Decisions (TAILORED) Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Improve Surrogate Decision Making.

Context: Patients with terminal illnesses often require surrogate decision makers. Prior research has demonstrated high surrogate stress, and that despite standards promoting substituted judgment, most patients do not want their surrogates to make pure substituted judgments for them. It is not known how best to help loved ones fulfill the surrogate role.

Protocol for a cluster randomised trial of a communication skills intervention for physicians to facilitate survivorship transition in patients with lymphoma.

Introduction: Survivors of cancer often describe a sense of abandonment post-treatment, with heightened worry, uncertainty, fear of recurrence and limited understanding of what lies ahead. This study examines the efficacy of a communication skills training (CST) intervention to help physicians address survivorship issues and introduce a new consultation focused on the use of a survivorship care plan for patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Methods And Analysis: Specifically, this randomised, 4-site trial will test the efficacy of a survivorship planning consultation (physicians receive CST and apply these skills in a new survivorship-focused office visit using a survivorship plan) with patients who have achieved complete remission after completion of first-line therapy versus a control arm in which physicians are trained to subsequently provide a time-controlled, manualised wellness rehabilitation consultation focused only on discussion of healthy nutrition and exercise as rehabilitation postchemotherapy.

Patient and caregiver characteristics related to completion of advance directives in terminally ill patients.

Objective: There is a growing body of literature describing the characteristics of patients who plan for the end of life, but little research has examined how caregivers influence patients' advance care planning (ACP). The purpose of this study was to examine how patient and caregiver characteristics are associated with advance directive (AD) completion among patients diagnosed with a terminal illness. We defined AD completion as having completed a living will and/or identified a healthcare power of attorney.

Survivorship care planning after participation in communication skills training intervention for a consultation about lymphoma survivorship.

A survivorship care plan refers to a written summary of the treatment received and recommendations regarding surveillance and management of late effects. To provide evaluation of a communication skills training (CST) intervention to enhance the transition of lymphoma survivors to cancer survivorship. Nineteen oncologists specializing in lymphoma treatment were recruited and completed a survivorship CST workshop, and two standardized patient assessments (SPAs), one pretraining and one posttraining.

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin replacing conventional doxorubicin in standard R-CHOP chemotherapy for elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: an open label, single arm, phase II trial.

Background: The present multicenter phase II trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) instead of conventional doxorubicin in standard R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine [Oncovin], and prednisone) therapy for elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Materials And Methods: Patients aged > 60 years who had stage II to IV disease were included. Treatment consisted of rituximab 375 mg/m(2) intravenously (I.

A Chinese version of the Spiritual Needs Assessment for patients survey instrument.

Context: Unmet spiritual needs have been associated with decreased patient ratings of quality of care, satisfaction, and quality of life. Few instruments exist to measure spiritual needs particularly among non-English speaking patients in the U.S.

Research participants' high expectations of benefit in early-phase oncology trials: are we asking the right question?

Purpose: To determine whether patients' expectations of benefit in early-phase oncology trials depend on how patients are queried and to explore whether expectations are associated with patient characteristics.

Patients And Methods: Participants were 171 patients in phase I or II oncology trials in the United States. After providing informed consent for a trial but before receiving the investigational therapy, participants answered questions about expectations of benefit.

The Spiritual Needs Assessment for Patients (SNAP): development and validation of a comprehensive instrument to assess unmet spiritual needs.

Context: Unmet spiritual needs have been associated with decreased patient ratings of quality of care, satisfaction, and quality of life. There is a need for a well-validated, psychometrically sound instrument to describe and measure spiritual needs.

Objectives: To develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess patients' spiritual needs.

Immunogenicity of an inactivated monovalent 2009 influenza A (H1N1) vaccine in patients who have cancer.

Background: The immune response of patients who have cancer, who may be receiving immunosuppressive therapy, is generally considered to be decreased. This study aimed to evaluate the immune response of cancer patients to the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) vaccine.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a prospective single site study comparing the immune response after H1N1 vaccination of healthy controls (group A), patients who had solid tumors and were taking myelosuppressive chemotherapy (group B), patients who had solid tumors and were taking nonmyelosuppressive or no treatment (group C), and patients who had hematologic malignancies (group D).

Isolated sternal involvement in breast cancer: is it truly stage IV disease?

Purpose: There is no consensus regarding treatment for patients with breast cancer and isolated sternal involvement. Though classified as AJCC stage IV, this group of patients may have prolonged distant disease free survival.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective case series of 8 patients with isolated sternal recurrence.

The culture of faith and hope: patients' justifications for their high estimations of expected therapeutic benefit when enrolling in early phase oncology trials.

Background: Patients' estimates of their chances of therapeutic benefit from participation in early phase trials greatly exceed historical data. Ethicists worry that this therapeutic misestimation undermines the validity of informed consent.

Methods: The authors interviewed 45 patients enrolled in phase 1 or 2 oncology trials about their expectations of therapeutic benefit and their reasons for those expectations.

Development and validation of the Family Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale.

Objective: Several studies have reported high levels of distress in family members who have made health care decisions for loved ones at the end of life. A method is needed to assess the readiness of family members to take on this important role. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure family member confidence in making decisions with (conscious patient scenario) and for (unconscious patient scenario) a terminally ill loved one.

Family health care decision making and self-efficacy with patients with ALS at the end of life.

Objective: Persons with ALS differ from those with other terminal illnesses in that they commonly retain capacity for decision making close to death. The role patients would opt to have their families play in decision making at the end of life may therefore be unique. This study compared the preferences of patients with ALS for involving family in health care decisions at the end of life with the actual involvement reported by the family after death.