The dyadic regulation approach of coping and illness representations in female cancer patients and their partners.

Purpose: Adjustment to any illness is a 'dyadic' process whereby patients and their partners mutually determine each other's perceptions, behaviours, and well-being. The present study explored the association between dyadic coping strategies and illness representations in newly diagnosed female cancer patients and their partners.

Methods: The sample consisted of 92 female cancer patient-partner pairs from 3 oncology hospitals in Greece and Cyprus.

Reliability of Moral Distress Scale, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale, and Jefferson Scale of Empathy Among Greek Nurses: A Pilot Study.

Moral distress (MD), secondary traumatic stress (STS), and empathy are of particular interest to the nursing profession. The availability of validated tools for the assessment of these parameters is of high importance. The primary aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the reliability of the Greek version of the MD Scale or the revised version (MDS-R), the Jefferson Scale of Empathy for Health Professionals (JSE-HP), and the STS Scale (STSS) in Greek nurses working in open and psychiatric wards.

Treatment Adherence in Patients with Lung Cancer from Prospects of Patients and Physicians.

Purpose: Adherence to treatment can be defined as the degree to which a patient's behavior is consonant with medical or health advice he or she receive as part of his treatment regimen. The aim of this study was:  1) to measure the rate of treatment adherence to among patients with lung cancer from the prospect of both patients and physicians, 2) to measure the degree of concordance between the two prospect, and 3) to identify factors related to adherence for both prospect (patients and physicians).

Materials And Methods: A total of 250 patients were included in this study.

Attitudes, beliefs and knowledge towards Medical Cannabis of Greek undergraduate and postgraduate university nursing students.

Objectives: To assess attitudes, beliefs and knowledge towards medical cannabis (MC) among Greek nursing students by year of study and undergraduate/postgraduate status.

Methods: 294 (229 undergraduate and 65 postgraduate) students participated in this survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson's chi-squared, t-test) were applied using SPSS.

Economic Distress in Families with a Member Suffering from Severe Mental Illness: Illness Burden or Financial Crisis? Evidence from Greece.

The present study aims to explore the economic distress and pertinent coping strategies in families with a member suffering from a severe mental illness. Furthermore it endeavors to gauge the impact of illness burden and that of the Greek recession on economic distress, while disentangling their contribution. In total, 190 key relatives of people with severe mental illness were recruited from community mental health services in the region of Attica.

Relaxation training significantly reduced blood glucose levels in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Purpose/objective: The present study was designed to test whether adding a relaxation training technique to the medical treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus could, adjusting for the non-specific factors of therapy, lead to an improvement in the patients' condition.

Method: Forty-six participants were randomly allocated either to an experimental (intervention) group, receiving weekly sessions of relaxation training, or to a control group (placebo) receiving weekly blood circulation training exercises. Measures included the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, blood glucose levels, high-density lipoprotein levels, cholesterol levels, body weight, HbA1c levels, the Mood Adjective Checklist (MACL), a diary checklist, and urine glucose levels.

Patient and physician reports of the information provided about illness and treatment: what matters for patients' adaptation to cancer during treatment?

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine (a) whether illness representations mediate the relation of the amount of information provided by physicians to patients' adaptation to illness; (b) whether patient-physician agreement on the information provided impacts the aforementioned relationship. The study focused on information that, according to the Common Sense Self-Regulation Model, is essential for adaptation to illness.

Methods: The sample consisted of 93 patients undergoing chemotherapy and their physicians.

A Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Applied to a Social Anxiety Disorder and a Specific Phobia, Case Study.

George, a 23-year-old Greek student, was referred by a psychiatrist for treatment to a University Counseling Centre in Athens. He was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and specific phobia situational type. He was complaining of panic attacks and severe symptoms of anxiety.

Maladaptive health beliefs, illness-related self-regulation and the role of the information provided by physicians.

This prospective study in 119 patients with cardiovascular diseases aimed to examine whether (a) illness representations mediate the relation of general maladaptive health beliefs to patients' coping behaviours and (b) these relations are moderated by the patients' perception of the amount of information provided by their physicians. Personal control and illness coherence mediated the relation of maladaptive health beliefs to coping behaviour. The amount of the provided information buffered the negative relation of maladaptive health beliefs to illness representations and coping.

Changes in health perceptions after exposure to human suffering: using discrete emotions to understand underlying processes.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine whether exposure to human suffering is associated with negative changes in perceptions about personal health. We further examined the relation of possible health perception changes, to changes in five discrete emotions (i.e.

Accelerometer feedback to promote physical activity in adults with type 2 diabetes: a pilot study.

This study examined whether giving activity feedback to obese, sedentary adults with Type 2 diabetes would improve their adherence to a home-based walking program. 49 subjects were recruited. Ten failed a treadmill cardiovascular test.