Personal financial effects of multiple myeloma and its treatment.

Background: Improvements in some treatment programs for multiple myeloma (MM) are increasing survival. As patients live longer with MM as a chronic disease, the personal financial effects of MM treatment become a serious concern.

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the personal financial effects of MM and its treatment in 5 areas: employment, disability, health/medical and life insurance, retirement, and out-of-pocket expenses.

Dietary soy intake and breast cancer risk.

Purpose/objectives: To conduct a metasynthesis of the literature on human studies of the relationship between dietary soy intake and breast cancer risk.

Data Sources: Publications in English reporting human studies were searched with the terms soy and breast cancer, using Ovid, PubMed, and EBSCO databases. Only human studies investigating the relationship of soy intake to breast cancer development in women published from January 1997 through June 2008 were included in the review.

Obtaining family histories from patients with cancer.

Information obtained from family history data can provide valuable insight into the biologic and environmental etiologies of an individual's personal and family history of disease. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief introduction to cancer genetics and discuss ways to obtain accurate family histories in a time-efficient manner to identify families with a hereditary cancer syndrome. The focus is on gathering family history information, which should be a standard component of the initial intake for any patient and updated regularly to keep the information current.

Women's perceptions of the effectiveness of telephone support and education on their adjustment to breast cancer.

Purpose/objectives: Social support is believed to be important in helping women adjust to breast cancer. Reports have suggested limited positive effects of social support on well-being, mood disturbances, and relationships with significant others for women who receive telephone support. Women's perceptions of the role of social support in recovery, however, has had limited study.

The effect of telephone social support and education on adaptation to breast cancer during the year following diagnosis.

Purpose/objectives: To find the most effective methods of providing social support for women diagnosed with breast cancer by testing the effectiveness of a telephone social support and education intervention to promote emotional and interpersonal adaptation to breast cancer.

Design: Multisite, two-group experimental study with repeated measures.

Setting: Arkansas and New Jersey.

An evaluation of standardized patients in improving clinical breast examinations for military women.

There is a need to improve the quality of clinical breast examination (CBE) and breast cancer screening for women. The purpose of this study was to determine whether instructions from a standardized patient to military healthcare providers would increase the quality of CBE and breast cancer screening for military women. The study used a 2-group pretest and posttest experimental design with random assignment by study site.

Facilitating exercise adherence for patients with multiple myeloma.

Physical exercise is becoming an accepted part of therapy for many patients with cancer. Exercise may alleviate patients' fatigue and improve physical performance and psychological outlook. Much of the research is limited to women with breast cancer and excludes patients with bone metastases.