Nationwide survey on family caregiver-perceived experiences of patients with cancer of unknown primary site.

Purpose: Cancer of unknown primary site (CUP) is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis. As research on the experiences of CUP patients and their families is scarce, this study aimed to compare the family caregiver-perceived burden of CUP with that of common cancers (lung, colon, and stomach cancers). The association between family caregiver-perceived burden and CUP patients' quality of life (QOL) at end-of-life and family depression, respectively, was also explored.

Integrating home palliative care in oncology: a qualitative study to identify barriers and facilitators.

Purpose: Access to and close links with home palliative care services are essential to ensure seamless transitions between care settings in anticancer treatment. However, the timing of referrals to home palliative care services is often delayed. We explored barriers to and facilitators of improving the integration of home palliative care and medical oncology experienced by healthcare professionals in Japan.

Personalized versus standard cognitive behavioral therapy for fear of cancer recurrence, depressive symptoms or cancer-related fatigue in cancer survivors: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial (MATCH-study).

Background: Fear of cancer recurrence, depressive symptoms, and cancer-related fatigue are prevalent symptoms among cancer survivors, adversely affecting patients' quality of life and daily functioning. Effect sizes of interventions targeting these symptoms are mostly small to medium. Personalizing treatment is assumed to improve efficacy.

Adjustment disorder in cancer patients after treatment: prevalence and acceptance of psychological treatment.

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of adjustment disorder (AD) among cancer patients and the acceptance of psychological treatment, in relation to sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors.

Methods: Breast, prostate, and head and neck cancer patients of all stages and treatment modalities (N = 200) participated in this observational study. Patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Checklist Individual Strength, Distress Thermometer and problem list.

Navigating severe chronic cancer-related fatigue: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Objective: This article presents a phenomenological study on the embodied experiences of patients with Chronic Cancer-Related Fatigue (CCRF), aiming to better understand this complex phenomenon.

Design: Data collection consisted of individual interviews with 25 participants who suffered from severe CCRF for at least three months after cancer treatment was finished.

Main Outcome Measures: Against the theoretical background of philosophical phenomenology, we explored embodied experiences, incorporated temporal and spatial aspects of living with CCRF.

Essential competences for psychologists in palliative cancer care teams.

The study aim was to clarify the essential competencies for psychologists in palliative care teams. A nationwide, multicentre cross-sectional survey was conducted. A 32-item questionnaire assessing endorsement of potential competencies was completed by 70 patients and/or families, 101 consulting personnel, 747 members of palliative care teams and 203 mental health providers.

Unmet need for palliative rehabilitation in inpatient hospices/palliative care units: a nationwide post-bereavement survey.

In end-of-life care, rehabilitation for terminally ill cancer patients is inconsistently provided and rarely discussed. We sought to clarify the prevalence of unmet rehabilitation need for patients admitted to inpatient hospice/palliative care units as perceived by bereaved family members. We conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey of 1001 family members of cancer patients who died at inpatient hospices/palliative care units.

Organizing Psycho-Oncological Care for Cancer Patients: The Patient's Perspective.

Background: Cancer patients often suffer from psychological distress during or after cancer treatment, but the use of psycho-oncological care among cancer patients is limited. One of the reasons might be that the way psycho-oncological care is organized, does not fit patients' preferences. This study aimed to obtain detailed insight into cancer patients' preferences regarding the organization of psycho-oncological care.

Predicting models of depression or complicated grief among bereaved family members of patients with cancer.

Objective: To derive and validate a risk scoring system for predicting major depressive disorder (MDD) and complicated grief (CG) among bereaved family members of patients with cancer that is feasible for clinical use.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of two cross-sectional nationwide bereavement surveys in Japan. From a total of 17,312 bereaved family members of patients with cancer, 8618 and 8619 were randomly assigned to a derivation and a validation group.

Rehabilitation for Cancer Patients in Inpatient Hospices/Palliative Care Units and Achievement of a Good Death: Analyses of Combined Data From Nationwide Surveys Among Bereaved Family Members.

Context: In end-of-life care, rehabilitation for patients with cancer is considered to be an important means for improving patients' quality of death and dying.

Objectives: To determine whether the provision of rehabilitation for patients with cancer in palliative care units is associated with the achievement of a good death.

Methods: This study involved a cross-sectional, anonymous, and self-report questionnaire survey of families of patients with cancer who died in palliative care units in Japan.

Long-term efficacy of meaning-centered group psychotherapy for cancer survivors: 2-Year follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Meaning-centered group psychotherapy for cancer survivors (MCGP-CS) is an effective intervention to improve personal meaning, psychological well-being, and depressive symptoms until 6 months after the intervention. In this study, the long-term effects of MCGP-CS (i.e.

Positive mental health among cancer survivors: overlap in psychological well-being, personal meaning, and posttraumatic growth.

Purpose: Positive mental health involves theoretical constructs like psychological well-being, personal meaning, and posttraumatic growth. This study aims to provide empirical insight into possible overlap between these constructs in cancer survivors.

Methods: Within the context of a randomized controlled trial, 170 cancer survivors completed the patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB), Personal Meaning Profile (PMP), and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI).

Moving on: Factors associated with caregivers' bereavement adjustment using a random population-based face-to-face survey.

Background: Providing care at end of life has consequences for caregivers' bereavement experience. 'Difficulty moving on with life' is an informative and unbiased symptom of prolonged grief disorder. Predictors of bereaved caregivers' ability to 'move on' have not been examined across the population.

Moderators of the effects of meaning-centered group psychotherapy in cancer survivors on personal meaning, psychological well-being, and distress.

Purpose: There is evidence to support that meaning-centered group psychotherapy for cancer survivors (MCGP-CS) is an effective intervention for improving personal meaning and psychological well-being, as well as reducing psychological distress. In order to investigate which subpopulations MCGP-CS specifically benefits, this explorative study aims to analyze potential sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors that may moderate the effects.

Methods: Cancer survivors (N = 114) were randomly assigned to MCGP-CS, or care as usual (CAU).

A critical analysis of scales to measure the attitude of nurses toward spiritual care and the frequency of spiritual nursing care activities.

Quantitative studies have assessed nurses' attitudes toward and frequency of spiritual care [SC] and which factors are of influence on this attitude and frequency. However, we had doubts about the construct validity of the scales used in these studies. Our objective was to evaluate scales measuring nursing SC.

Longitudinal assessment of cognitive changes associated with adjuvant treatment for breast cancer: the impact of APOE and smoking.

Purpose: This study examined the association of post-treatment changes in cognitive performance, apolipoprotein E (APOE), and smoking in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant therapy.

Participants And Methods: Breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy (N = 55, age = 51.9 ± 7.

How Spirituality Helps Cancer Patients with the Adjustment to their Disease.

It has been suggested that spirituality is associated with higher well-being, because it offers social support, improves the relationship with the partner, provides meaning, and reduces self-focus and worry. We performed a qualitative study among ten people with cancer, using the Consensual Qualitative Research method for the analysis of semi-structured interviews. Support was found for the mechanisms of meaning provision and of reduction of self-focus and worries.