Perceptions of Distress in Women with Ovarian Cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To explore women's experience of distress by asking "What do women with ovarian cancer want their spouse or significant other, family, friends, and healthcare providers to know about their experience of distress during diagnosis and treatment?"

Research Approach: Modified Glaserian grounded theory.

Setting: An urban setting in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

Participants: 12 women, aged 21-71 years, diagnosed with and treated for ovarian cancer.

Department of health and human services changes: implications for hospital social workers.

In April 2010, President Obama issued a directive to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding patient visitation, advance directives, and other initiatives to improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families. The HHS response to this directive has implications for hospital social workers. The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to explore indicators of social work readiness to support implementation of the resulting initiatives.

Stacked stigma: oncology social workers' perceptions of the lung cancer experience.

This study explores stigma in the lung cancer experience by interviewing 18 oncology social workers employed at cancer centers across the United States who provide care to people diagnosed with lung cancer and their family members. A content analysis of the interviews suggests stacked stigma exists with respect to cigarette smoking. Poor prognosis and disparity in advocacy efforts emerged as stigmatizing events that are linked with smoking stigma, particularly in the arenas of support groups, patient-matching programs, availability of resources, and the lung cancer population itself.