Screening, assessment, and care of anxiety and depressive symptoms in adults with cancer: an American Society of Clinical Oncology guideline adaptation.

Purpose: A Pan-Canadian Practice Guideline on Screening, Assessment, and Care of Psychosocial Distress (Depression, Anxiety) in Adults With Cancer was identified for adaptation.

Methods: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has a policy and set of procedures for adapting clinical practice guidelines developed by other organizations. The guideline was reviewed for developmental rigor and content applicability.

Practice-Changing Strategies to Deliver Affordable, High-Quality Cancer Care: Summary of an Institute of Medicine Workshop.

The authors summarize presentations and discussion from the Delivering Affordable Cancer Care in the 21st Century workshop and focus on proposed strategies to improve the affordability of cancer care while maintaining or improving the quality of care.

An accidental tourist finds her way in the dangerous land of serious illness.

A survivor of four cancer diagnoses calls for policies that support the increased responsibilities patients and families now must fulfill to achieve the best outcomes from their health care.

From patient education to patient engagement: implications for the field of patient education.

Objective: Advances in health care require that individuals participate knowledgeably and actively in their health care to realize its full benefit. Implications of these changes for the behavior of individuals and for the practice of patient education are described.

Methods: An "engagement behavior framework" (EBF) was compiled from literature reviews and key informant interviews.

Shared decision-making in the US--research & development outpaces delivery.

Researchers interested in shared decision-making in the US have developed a set of tools including decision aids and instruction in counseling, to help patients and physicians fully discuss treatment decisions. Although fundamental research and development continues, these tools are disseminated largely through for-profit and not-for-profit companies to group practices and insurance providers. Data on the number of patients and physicians who have access to decision aids and who have ever used a decision aid are not available, but the number may be small.

Consumers of health information and health care: challenging assumptions and defining alternatives.

The end of the 20th century saw a sea of change in the view of individuals in relation to their health and health care. The term "consumer" began to be used to describe myriad new roles and responsibilities for lay people who receive health services and who are often the target of health promotion and disease prevention interventions. This article (1) describes how the term "consumer" is used by various stakeholders in the health care sector; (2) specifies the assumptions that underlie the notion that a "new" kind of health care consumer can (and should) have a significant effect on their own health and on the health care system; (3) challenges the evidence base of these assumptions, noting that many are either unsupported or clearly contradicted by what we know; (4) articulates a set of principles to inform an alternative, more productive, and feasible role for individuals with respect to their health and health care; and (5) identifies the implications of those principles for health promotion and health care professionals in the 21st century.

Health research philanthropy in a time of plenty: a strategic agenda.

Generous public investment in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides research foundations with a unique opportunity to more closely connect investments in basic research to a payoff in improved health. Foundations can support efforts to integrate what is known from the biological, behavioral, and social sciences to solve the nation's most pressing health problems. In doing so, they will help to build the scientific capacity to conduct high-quality integrative research in anticipation of a more robust public investment in translating what is known about health into what is done to improve and maintain it.