Optimal training in communication model (OPTiCOM): A programmatic roadmap.

Objectives: Teaching primary care residents patient communication skills is essential, complex, and impeded by barriers. We find no models guiding faculty how to train residents in the workplace that integrate necessary system components, the science of physician-patient communication training and competency-based medical education. The aim of this project is to create such a model.

Effects of team care of frequent attenders on patients and physicians.

Frequent clinic attenders consume a large portion of health care resources while feeling underserved. At the same time, physicians are frustrated trying to adequately care for these patients. Previous trials of team care in primary care have rarely included control groups.

Breast cancer risk and screening: a comparison of lesbian and heterosexual women.

Objectives: Using data collected as part of the Multisite Women's Health Study, we examined the differences between lesbians and heterosexual women on objective breast cancer risk calculations using the Gail Model. Health risk behaviors and screening behaviors for breast cancer were also examined. It was hypothesized that lesbians would have higher objective cancer risk estimates and report more behavioral and screening risk factors for breast cancer than heterosexual women.

Premenstrual exacerbation of depressive disorders in a community-based sample in the United States.

Objective: No published epidemiologic study has examined premenstrual exacerbation of depressive disorders (PME-DD) in a representative sample. Knowledge gained should indicate the burden of illness, suggest whom to monitor, and facilitate diagnosis. The objectives were to 1) ascertain the prevalence and predictors of PME-DD; and 2) test competing hypotheses that PME-DD is related to a) severity or history of depression, b) menstrual cyclicity in females in general, or c) a methodological artifact.

Correlates of underutilization of gynecological cancer screening among lesbian and heterosexual women.

Background: Study aims were to examine cervical cancer risk factors, screening patterns, and predictors of screening adherence in demographically similar samples of lesbian (N=550) and heterosexual women (N=279).

Methods: Data are from a multisite survey study of women's health conducted from 1994 to 1996.

Results: Differences in sexual behavior risk factors for cervical cancer were observed with lesbians reporting earlier onset of sexual activity (P<0.

Incorporating a Psychological Counselor in a Cancer Risk Assessment Program: Necessity, Acceptability, and Potential Roles.

Evidence suggests that cancer risk assessment may be associated with increased psychological distress. This exploratory study assessed the necessity and acceptability of incorporating psychological counseling into routine clinic procedures at a cancer risk program. Following a visit to a university-based cancer risk clinic, patients (N = 102) completed an anonymous self-report instrument.