Tailoring mind-body therapies to individual needs: patients' program preference and psychological traits as moderators of the effects of mindfulness-based cancer recovery and supportive-expressive therapy in distressed breast cancer survivors.

Background: Mindfulness-based cancer recovery (MBCR) and supportive-expressive therapy (SET) are well-validated psycho-oncological interventions, and we have previously reported health benefits of both programs. However, little is known about patients' characteristics or program preferences that may influence outcomes. Therefore, this study examined moderators of the effects of MBCR and SET on psychological well-being among breast cancer survivors.

Randomized controlled trial of Mindfulness-based cancer recovery versus supportive expressive group therapy for distressed survivors of breast cancer.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of the following two empirically supported group interventions to help distressed survivors of breast cancer cope: mindfulness-based cancer recovery (MBCR) and supportive-expressive group therapy (SET).

Patients And Methods: This multisite, randomized controlled trial assigned 271 distressed survivors of stage I to III breast cancer to MBCR, SET, or a 1-day stress management control condition. MBCR focused on training in mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga, whereas SET focused on emotional expression and group support.

Core areas of practice and associated competencies for nurses working as professional cancer navigators.

Unlabelled: Fillion et al. (2012) recently designed a conceptual framework for professional cancer navigators describing key functions of professional cancer navigation.

Purpose: Building on this framework, this study defines the core areas of practice and associated competencies for professional cancer navigators.

Professional navigation: a comparative study of two Canadian models.

For many cancer control programs, cancer navigation has emerged as a specific strategy to improve access to supportive care and the patients' experience of cancer care. This study contributes to a better understanding of professional navigation by comparing two Canadian models: Quebec's Pivot Nurse in Oncology (PNO) and Nova Scotia's Cancer Patient Navigator (CPN). Qualitative interviews were conducted with professional navigators, patients and family members, front-line staff, physicians and health administrators (interviews: n = 49; focus groups: n = 10).

Trait mindfulness, repression, suppression, and self-reported mood and stress symptoms among women with breast cancer.

Objective: This study sought to identify relationships between trait mindfulness, repressive, and suppressive emotional styles, and the relative importance of these traits in their association with self-reported psychological health among women with breast cancer.

Method: Of the 277 women with breast cancer accrued in the study, 227 (81.9%) completed a set of questionnaires assessing personality traits, stress symptoms, and mood.

Professional navigation framework: elaboration and validation in a Canadian context.

Purpose/objectives: To elaborate, refine, and validate the professional navigation framework in a Canadian context.

Research Approach: A two-step approach consisting of a qualitative evaluative design and formal consultations.

Setting: Two applications of professional navigators in Quebec and Nova Scotia, Canada.

A structured approach to knowledge exchange: understanding the implementation of a cancer survivor program.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe the application of a model of knowledge exchange, the Knowledge Exchange-Decision Support (KE-DS) Model, to the Canadian pilot of Cancer Transitions, a psychosocial program for cancer survivors.

Method: We compared and contrasted the program planning and implementation processes across three diverse sites offering Cancer Transitions. The KE-DS Model guided the collection and analysis of observations and written data according to specific model components.

Diagnosis and therapy of polycystic ovarian syndrome: results of a survey among German gynecologists with a review on literature.

Objective: Polycystic ovarian syndrome is one of the most frequent endocrine dysfunctions in women in their fertile age. To date, a clear definition of the disease remains controversial among experts, partly because study results concerning diagnostics and therapy are incoherent. In this survey, we intend to give an insight into the diagnostics and treatment regimes of PCOS in Germany and subsequently compare these results to the current recommendations found in international literature.

Professional patient navigation in head and neck cancer.

Objectives: To discuss professional cancer navigation roles, models, implementation process and outcomes of patients and families dealing with head and neck cancers. One specific research is presented as an illustration.

Data Sources: Published scientific papers, research review articles, implementations studies.

The psychosocial screen for cancer (PSSCAN): further validation and normative data.

Background: We have previously reported on the development of a cancer-specific screening instrument for anxiety and depression (PSSCAN). No information on cut-off scores or their meaning for diagnosis was available when PSSCAN was first described. Needed were additional analyses to recommend empirically justified cut-off scores as well as data norms for healthy adult samples so as to lend meaning to the recommended cut-off scores.

A functional genomic fingerprint of chronic stress in humans: blunted glucocorticoid and increased NF-kappaB signaling.

Background: Chronic stressors are known to increase vulnerability to medical illness, but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood.

Methods: To identify transcriptional control pathways that are modified by chronic stress, we conducted genomewide expression microarrays on familial caregivers of brain-cancer patients (n = 11) and matched control subjects (n = 10). Analyses were conducted on peripheral blood monocytes, which are cells that have the ability to initiate and maintain many inflammatory responses.

The impact of acculturation on the use of traditional Chinese medicine in newly diagnosed Chinese cancer patients.

Goals Of Work: This study assessed the impact of acculturation on the prevalence of traditional Chinese medicine and other complementary and alternative medicine (TCM/CAM) use in newly diagnosed Chinese cancer patients. The individual determinants of TCM/CAM use among patients were also investigated.

Materials And Methods: A consecutive sample of Chinese cancer patients treated at the British Columbia Cancer Agency was surveyed at admission using a 15-item questionnaire.

Understanding Canadian Punjabi-speaking South Asian women's experience of breast cancer: a qualitative study.

Background: Knowledge of women's experience with breast cancer is based on studies on middle-class Caucasian women. Generalizations are drawn from the few studies of South Asian women such as lack of desire to discuss personal and family issues. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the experience of Canadian Punjabi-speaking South Asian women in order to inform health care practices.

Residential radon and lung cancer--detailed results of a collaborative analysis of individual data on 7148 persons with lung cancer and 14,208 persons without lung cancer from 13 epidemiologic studies in Europe.

Objectives: Studies seeking direct estimates of the lung cancer risk associated with residential radon exposure lasting several decades have been conducted in many European countries. Individually these studies have not been large enough to assess moderate risks reliably. Therefore data from all 13 European studies of residential radon and lung cancer satisfying certain prespecified criteria have been brought together and analyzed.

Development and validation of a psychosocial screening instrument for cancer.

Background: We are reporting on the development of a psychosocial screening tool for cancer patients. The tool was to be brief, at a relatively low reading level, capture psychological variables relevant to distress and health-related quality-of-life in cancer patients, possess good reliability and validity, and be free of copyright protection.

Method: Item derivation is described, data on reliability and validity as well as norms are reported for three samples of cancer patients (n = 1057; n = 570, n = 101).

Mortality of british radiologists: a lecture note.

The precautions introduced after the first 23 years experience of the use of x-rays for medical diagnosis proved adequate to eliminate the acute hazards of exposure, but it was much longer before it was realized that small doses that did not produce any acute effect could increase the risk of cancer. British radiologists who took up the specialty at different periods have, therefore, been studied to see if the risk has now been adequately controlled. Four groups have been studied starting respectively before 1921, in 1921-34, 1935-54, and 1955-77, corresponding approximately to periods when different limits of exposure were applied.

Mortality in relation to alcohol consumption: a prospective study among male British doctors.

Background: To relate alcohol consumption patterns to mortality in an elderly population.

Methods: We undertook a 23-year prospective study of 12 000 male British doctors aged 48-78 years in 1978, involving 7000 deaths. Questionnaires about drinking and smoking were completed in 1978 and once again in 1989-91.

Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors.

Objective: To compare the hazards of cigarette smoking in men who formed their habits at different periods, and the extent of the reduction in risk when cigarette smoking is stopped at different ages.

Design: Prospective study that has continued from 1951 to 2001.

Setting: United Kingdom.

Breast cancer and abortion: collaborative reanalysis of data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 83?000 women with breast cancer from 16 countries.

Background: The Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer has brought together the worldwide epidemiological evidence on the possible relation between breast cancer and previous spontaneous and induced abortions.

Methods: Data on individual women from 53 studies undertaken in 16 countries with liberal abortion laws were checked and analysed centrally. Relative risks of breast cancer--comparing the effects of having had a pregnancy that ended as an abortion with those of never having had that pregnancy--were calculated, stratified by study, age at diagnosis, parity, and age at first birth.