Unmet care needs of patients with advanced cancer and their relatives: multicentre observational study.

Objectives: The care needs of patients with advanced cancer and their relatives change throughout the disease trajectory. This study focused on the care-related problems and needs of patients with advanced cancer and their relatives. This was done from the perspective of centres for information and support.

Perception of prognosis and health-related quality of life in patients with advanced cancer: results of a multicentre observational study (eQuiPe).

Purpose: To assess perception of prognosis in patients with advanced cancer, its association with patient's characteristics and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Methods: In a multicentre observational cohort study (eQuiPe), conducted on patients with advanced cancer, perceived prognosis, coping strategies, and HRQoL were assessed. Clinical data were obtained from the Netherlands Cancer Registry.

Emotional functioning during bereavement after the death of patients with advanced cancer and associated factors.

Objective: The death of a loved one is considered to be the most stressful of all life events. However, the impact of bereavement on quality of life varies between individuals. The aim of our study was to assess emotional functioning (EF), which is a domain of quality of life, of bereaved relatives after the death of their loved one and its associated factors.

Caregiver activation of relatives of patients with advanced cancer.

Objective: Relatives of patients with advanced cancer often have many caring responsibilities. Not everyone may have sufficient knowledge, skills, and confidence-also known as caregiver activation-to provide such care. We assessed caregiver activation in relatives and its association with their personal characteristics and their own well-being.

Dyadic coping and its association with emotional functioning in couples confronted with advanced cancer: Results of the multicenter observational eQuiPe study.

Objective: How patients and their partners cope with advanced cancer as a couple, may impact their emotional functioning (EF). The aim of this study was to assess dyadic coping (DC) of couples confronted with advanced cancer and its association with EF.

Methods: Actor-partner interdependence models were used to analyze baseline data of 566 couples facing advanced cancer participating in an observational study on quality of care and life.

Quality of life and quality of care as experienced by patients with advanced cancer and their relatives: A multicentre observational cohort study (eQuiPe).

Aim: This study aims to assess the quality of life and quality of care as experienced by patients with advanced cancer and their relatives while taking their interdependency into account.

Methods: A prospective multicentre observational study (eQuiPe study) was conducted. Quality of life scores (EORTC QLQ-C30) was compared to a matched normative population and logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relation between high emotional functioning (EF, measured with the EORTC QLQ-C30) and experienced quality of care (IN-PATSAT32, CQ-index PC).

Sexual health and closeness in couples coping with advanced cancer: Results of a multicenter observational study (eQuiPe).

Background: Cancer and its treatment can severely affect sexual health. It is unknown how this may relate to the feelings of closeness between patients and their partners.

Aim: To assess the association between sexual health and closeness in the relationship in couples coping with advanced cancer.

Spiritual Well-Being and Associated Factors in Dutch Patients With Advanced Cancer.

Context: Palliative care aims to support patients' spiritual needs with the intention of promoting their spiritual well-being (SWB), an important dimension of quality of life. SWB is one of the less-studied dimensions of QoL, particularly in a secular country such as the Netherlands.

Objectives: In this study we aimed to get a better understanding of SWB in Dutch patients with advanced cancer.

Assessing measurement invariance in the EORTC QLQ-C30.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate measurement invariance (MI) in the European Organisation for research and treatment of cancer quality of life questionnaire core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) in a heterogeneous sample of patients with cancer.

Methods: Data from 12 studies within the PROFILES registry were used for secondary analyses (n = 7007). We tested MI by successive restrictions on thresholds, loadings, and intercepts across subgroups based on primary cancer sites, age, sex, time since diagnosis, and life stage, using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) for ordered categorical measures.

Bereaved relatives' quality of life before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of the prospective, multicenter, observational eQuiPe study.

Background: The death of a loved one is considered as one of the most stressful life events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, grief processes are potentially affected by measures such as social distancing and self-quarantine.

Aim: The aim of this study was to give insight in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of life, social support, and self-care of bereaved relatives of people with advanced cancer in order to evaluate whether care for bereaved relatives during the COVID-19 pandemic should be improved.

Validation of the FACIT-Sp-12 in a Dutch cohort of patients with advanced cancer.

Objective: Although the Dutch Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being 12 Item Scale (FACIT-Sp-12) has been used in several Dutch studies, no study has assessed the measurement properties of the translation. The aim of this study was to perform an item-reduction analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), test of reliability, and test of convergent validity.

Methods: From the baseline data of a cohort study on experienced quality of care and quality of life (eQuiPe study), 400 advanced cancer patients without missing values on any of the variables were selected.

Self-care, resilience, and caregiver burden in relatives of patients with advanced cancer: results from the eQuiPe study.

Purpose: Relatives are often involved in caregiving for patients with advanced cancer and carry a heavy burden. Self-care and resilience might be beneficial to enhance their wellbeing and burden-bearing capacity. This study assessed the engagement in self-care and resilience in relatives of patients with advanced cancer and its association with their caregiver burden.

Perceptions of involvement in advance care planning and emotional functioning in patients with advanced cancer.

Purpose: Advance Care Planning (ACP) is positively associated with the quality of care, but its impact on emotional functioning is ambiguous. This study investigated the association between perceptions of ACP involvement and emotional functioning in patients with advanced cancer.

Methods: This study analyzed baseline data of 1,001 patients of the eQuiPe study, a prospective, longitudinal, multicenter, observational study on quality of care and quality of life in patients with advanced cancer in the Netherlands.

Shared Perspectives of Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Informal Caregivers on Essential Aspects of Health Care: A Qualitative Study.

The aim of this study is to explore the essential aspects of health care according to patients with advanced cancer and their informal caregivers by using a dyadic approach. Seven focus groups and 7 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Patients with advanced cancer and informal caregivers were recruited between January 2017 and June 2017 in 6 Dutch hospitals.

Prospective cohort study of patients with advanced cancer and their relatives on the experienced quality of care and life (eQuiPe study): a study protocol.

Background: Palliative care is becoming increasingly important because the number of patients with an incurable disease is growing and their survival is improving. Previous research tells us that early palliative care has the potential to improve quality of life (QoL) in patients with advanced cancer and their relatives. According to limited research on palliative care in the Netherlands, patients with advanced cancer and their relatives find current palliative care suboptimal.

Social consequences of advanced cancer in patients and their informal caregivers: a qualitative study.

Purpose: Cancer threatens the social well-being of patients and their informal caregivers. Social life is even more profoundly affected in advanced diseases, but research on social consequences of advanced cancer is scarce. This study aims to explore social consequences of advanced cancer as experienced by patients and their informal caregivers.

Optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic illness perceptions; quality of life; and survival among 2457 cancer survivors: the population-based PROFILES registry.

Background: Threatening illness perceptions (IPs) have been associated with poorer health outcomes. However, to the authors' knowledge, it remains unclear whether threatening IPs that are consistent with disease severity are equally harmful. The aim of the current study was to: 1) identify subgroups of cancer survivors based on IPs and prognosis; and 2) assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and survival associated with these subgroups.

Health-related quality of life among cancer patients in their last year of life: results from the PROFILES registry.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the last year of life of cancer patients stratified by four periods of time before death.

Patients And Methods: Between 2008 and 2015, cancer patients were invited to participate in PROFILES (Patient Reported Outcomes Following Initial Treatment and Long-term Evaluation of Survivorship) registry studies. Patients were eligible for inclusion in this secondary analysis if they had been invited to complete the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) in their last year of life (N = 892).

Measuring health-related quality of life in patients with advanced cancer: a systematic review of self-administered measurement instruments.

Purpose: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are becoming increasingly important in clinical practice. The implementation of PROMS in routine practice is challenging because information regarding psychometric quality of measurement instruments is fragmented and standardization is lacking. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of self-administered HRQoL measurement instruments for use in patients with advanced cancer in clinical practice.

A shared mechanism of defense against predators and parasites: chitin regulation and its implications for life-history theory.

Defenses against predators and parasites offer excellent illustrations of adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Despite vast knowledge about such induced defenses, they have been studied largely in isolation, which is surprising, given that predation and parasitism are ubiquitous and act simultaneously in the wild. This raises the possibility that victims must trade-off responses to predation versus parasitism.

The evolutionary ecology of dwarfism in three-spined sticklebacks.

1. Body size is a defining phenotypic trait, but the ecological causes of its evolution are poorly understood. Most studies have considered only a single putative causal agent and have failed to recognise that different environmental agents are often correlated.

Consistent differences in macroparasite community composition among populations of three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus L.

Parasite ecologists are often interested in the repeatability of patterns in parasite communities in space and/or time, because of implications for the dynamics of host-parasite interactions. Field studies usually examine temporal and spatial variation in isolation or limit themselves to a small number of host populations. Here, we studied the macroparasite communities of 12 populations of three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L.

Imiquimod 5% cream as pretreatment of Mohs micrographic surgery for nodular basal cell carcinoma in the face: a prospective randomized controlled study.

Background: Imiquimod 5% cream can reduce or clear superficial and small nodular basal cell carcinoma (BCC). It could be used as a pretreatment of Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) to decrease defect size.

Objectives: To study if a pretreatment with imiquimod 5% cream decreases defect size after MMS.