A Randomized Clinical Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program Among Breast Cancer Survivors Post-Treatment: Evaluating Mediators of Cognitive Improvement.

Unlabelled: The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program for breast cancer survivors (MBSR [BCs]) is a stress-reducing program designed to increase cognitive functioning through four meditational practices. This randomized clinical trial aimed to determine if improvements in cognitive functioning and perceived cognitive abilities achieved from the MBSR(BC) were mediated through increased mindfulness, decreased rumination, and decreased perceived stress. Breast cancer survivors (BCSs) who met inclusion criteria of stage I, II, or III BC and received either chemotherapy (CT) or both CT and radiation were randomized to either the 6-week MBSR(BC), or Breast Cancer Education Support (BCES) program, or to a usual care (UC) regimen.

Behavior change theory and behavior change technique use in cancer rehabilitation interventions: a secondary analysis.

Background: There is limited evidence depicting ways that behavioral theory and techniques have been incorporated into cancer rehabilitation interventions. Examining their use within cancer rehabilitation interventions may provide insight into the active ingredients that can maximize patient engagement and intervention effectiveness.

Aim: This secondary analysis aimed to describe the use of behavior change theory and behavior change techniques (BCTs) in two previously conducted systematic reviews of cancer rehabilitation interventions.

Framework for planning the delivery of psychosocial oncology services: An American psychosocial oncology society task force report.

Objective: While screening for psychosocial distress is now the standard of care in oncology, little guidance is available on how best to deliver services in response to identified needs. The American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) convened a task force with the goal of creating a framework that could aid in planning services and justifying requests for resources.

Methods: Ten experts from multiple disciplines within psychosocial oncology served on the task force, first meeting together as a larger group over 2 days to set an agenda and then subsequently working in smaller teams to execute the goals.

Consensus-Building efforts to identify best tools for screening and assessment for supportive services in oncology.

To build consensus around an optimal patient-reported outcome measure of cancer symptoms and patient needs to facilitate patient-provider communication and trigger referrals to supportive services. The Grid-Enabled Measures platform was used to crowdsource and facilitate collaboration to achieve consensus. Respondents were invited to nominate and independently rate the usefulness of measures that: (1) have been actively used at a healthcare institution, (2) have a multiple choice or yes/no type format, (3) are applicable to adults with cancer, (4) are patient-reported, and 5) have psychometric data if possible.

Follow the trail: Using insights from the growth of palliative care to propose a roadmap for cancer rehabilitation.

Despite research explicating the benefits of cancer rehabilitation interventions to optimize physical, social, emotional, and vocational functioning, many reports document low rates of referral to and uptake of rehabilitation in oncology. Cancer rehabilitation clinicians, researchers, and policy makers could learn from the multidisciplinary specialty of palliative care, which has benefited from a growth strategy and has garnered national recognition as an important and necessary aspect of oncology care. The purpose of this article is to explore the actions that have increased the uptake and integration of palliative care to yield insights and multimodal strategies for the development and growth of cancer rehabilitation.

The Intersection of Rehabilitation and Palliative Care: Patients With Advanced Cancer in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Setting.

Background: Patients diagnosed with advanced cancer often differ from the traditional patient typically seen in the inpatient rehabilitation setting.

Purpose: To identify differences in care while highlighting the considerable similarities between the complementary specialties of palliative care and rehabilitation, and to provide rehabilitation clinicians with knowledge and skills to enhance care for palliative care patients and their families.

Methodology: Narrative literature review describing common functional losses in patients diagnosed with advanced cancer, followed by articulation of the intersection of palliative care with traditional rehabilitation approaches and goals.

Making Cancer Rehabilitation Services Work for Cancer Patients: Recommendations for Research and Practice to Improve Employment Outcomes.

Cancer and its treatment can result in impairments that limit physical, psychosocial, and cognitive functioning, interfering with patients' ability to perform work-related functions. Because these work limitations can carry significant personal and societal costs, there is a timely need to identify and refer patients to cancer rehabilitation services to manage adverse consequences of treatment and to preserve employment. Coordinated efforts in 3 key areas will better connect patients to rehabilitation interventions that will help optimize employment.

Survivors of childhood cancer in the United States: prevalence and burden of morbidity.

Background: No studies have estimated the population-level burden of morbidity in individuals diagnosed with cancer as children (ages 0-19 years). We updated prevalence estimates of childhood cancer survivors as of 2011 and burden of morbidity in this population reflected by chronic conditions, neurocognitive dysfunction, compromised health-related quality of life, and health status (general health, mental health, functional impairment, functional limitations, pain, and fear/anxiety).

Methods: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program data from 1975 to 2011 were used to update the prevalence of survivors of childhood cancers in the United States.

It takes a (virtual) village: crowdsourcing measurement consensus to advance survivorship care planning.

We report results from the use of an innovative tool (the Grid-Enabled Measures (GEM) database) to drive consensus on the use of measures evaluating the efficacy and implementation of survivorship care plans. The goal of this initiative was to increase the use of publicly available shared measures to enable comparability across studies. Between February and August 2012, research and practice communities populated the GEM platform with constructs and measures relevant to survivorship care planning, rated the measures, and provided qualitative feedback on the quality of the measures.

Now what? Toward an integrated research and practice agenda in distress screening.

Significant gains have been made in the detection and treatment of cancer, contributing to increased survival, but a cancer diagnosis and treatment may be accompanied by physical and psychosocial after-effects. Distress screening has been championed as a mechanism to identify patients with high levels of psychosocial morbidity for subsequent assessment and psychosocial care delivery. However, implementation of distress screening has been variable, in scope and in the consistency and quality of metrics and methods used.

Case study: using a virtual reality computer game to teach fire safety skills to children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a computer-based virtual reality (VR) game in teaching five children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) fire safety skills and to generalize these skills to a real world simulation.

Method: Children participated in a study by using a multiple baseline, multiple probe design. Before the game, no child could correctly describe what actions to take during a home fire.

Intraclass correlation among measures related to cigarette use by adolescents: estimates from an urban and largely African American cohort.

This paper presents the first estimates of school-level intraclass correlation (ICC) for smoking-related variables from an urban and largely African American population. Seventh graders (n = 6967) from 39 middle schools in Memphis, TN, were measured at baseline in 1994 and annually through 1997. Mixed model regression methods were used to estimate variance components for school and residual error.