Patients' Early Post-Operative Experiences with Lung Transplantation: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study.

Background And Objectives: Lung transplantation is a complex medical treatment, and for patients with end-stage lung diseases it is often the last therapeutic option available for survival. However, lung transplantation poses not only a physical but also a psychological challenge for patients. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of patients' individual concerns related to their lung transplantation within the first 6 months post-transplant.

When cancer cannot be cured: A qualitative study on relationship changes in couples facing advanced melanoma.

Objective: The aim of this qualitative study was to gain a deeper understanding about couples' relationship changes over time (the first six months) after one partner is diagnosed with an incurable advanced melanoma (stage III or IV).

Method: In semistructured interviews, eight patients and their partners were asked separately about potential changes in their relationship since diagnosis. The same questions were asked again six months later, but focusing on relationship changes over the preceding six months.

Which tinnitus-related characteristics affect current health-related quality of life and depression? A cross-sectional cohort study.

Tinnitus is sometimes associated with lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and depressive symptoms. However, only limited evidence exists identifying which tinnitus characteristics are responsible for these associations. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess associations between tinnitus, HRQoL, depressive symptoms, subjective tinnitus loudness and audiometrically assessed tinnitus characteristics (e.

Affective regulation in trichotillomania before and after self-help interventions.

Objective: Trichotillomania (TTM) is characterized by recurrent hair-pulling behaviours that cause significant distress. Deficits in affective regulation have been reported in individuals with TTM. We aimed to investigate temporal stability of affective regulation in TTM individuals.

Perception of treatment burden, psychological distress, and fatigue in thyroid cancer patients and their partners - effects of gender, role, and time since diagnosis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine diagnosis and treatment burden as well as psychological distress (anxiety and depression) and fatigue in thyroid cancer patients and their partners, focusing on the effects of gender, role, and time since diagnosis.

Methods: Seventy-one patients diagnosed and treated for differentiated thyroid cancer within the past 7 years, participated in this online study, as well as 40 partners. Standardized questionnaires were used rating anxiety, depression, fatigue, and quality of life.

Mutual associations between patients' and partners' depression and quality of life with respect to relationship quality, physical complaints, and sense of coherence in couples coping with cancer.

Purpose: The aim of this article is to examine the mutual associations between patients' and partners' depression and quality of life (QOL) in couples facing cancer with respect to potential resources (sense of coherence and relationship quality (RQ)) and stressors (physical complaints).

Patients And Methods: Questionnaires rating depression, QOL, sense of coherence, RQ, and physical complaints were completed by 207 couples facing different cancer types and stages. Multiple regression models were used to assess the mutual associations between patient and partner variables.

[Helpful and stressful factors in coping with COPD in patients and their partners - a qualitative study].

Objective: To investigate helpful and stressful factors in coping with COPD of patients and their partners.

Method: Nine COPD patients and their partners (9 couples) were interviewed. All interviews were audio taped and later transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Alexithymia and non-treatment: an Internet based study of 312 people with chronic anxiety.

Background: Despite the availability of highly efficacious treatments, many individuals with anxiety disorders never receive adequate treatment. Alexithymic deficits, such as difficulties in recognizing feelings and focusing on emotional experiences, may contribute to low rates of help seeking.

Methods: Multiple Internet-based strategies (announcements of anxiety disorder websites, postings in online self-help forums, notices in anxiety chat rooms) were used to recruit a sample of 312 participants with chronic and clinically relevant anxiety symptoms.

Changes in close relationships between cancer patients and their partners.

Purpose: Distress caused by cancer may have an important impact on the quality of a couple's relationship. This investigation examined perceived relationship changes in a sample of cancer patients and their partners, accounting for gender and role (i.e.

Quality of life and psychiatric morbidity in patients successfully treated for oral cavity squamous cell cancer and their wives.

Purpose: To assess quality of life (QOL) and psychiatric morbidity in successfully treated oral cavity squamous cell cancer (OC-SCC) survivors and their wives.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-one men successfully treated for OC-SCC (mean, 3.7 years since diagnosis; UICC stages I to IV) together with their wives were assessed by questionnaires referring to QOL (WHOQOL-BREF), physical complaints (EORTC QOL-H&N35), and symptoms of anxiety and depression (HADS).

Psychiatric morbidity and quality of life in wives of men with long-term head and neck cancer.

The diagnosis of cancer not only affects the lives of patients but also the lives of their relatives. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and quality of life (QoL) among wives of patients treated for head and neck cancer (HNC). We examined 31 wives of patients treated for HNC from January 1998 to December 2004 (meantime since diagnosis 3.