Screening

The Control Preferences Scale is widely used in decision research to measure patient preferences for participation in treatment decision making with health care providers. Following anecdotal reports of confusion with the scale the authors conducted an exploratory interview study to examine perceptions of the meaning and applicability of the Control Preferences Scale for men with localized prostate cancer seeking treatment in a multidisciplinary urology clinic.

Therapists working at the eight psycho-oncological centers in the Netherlands (N = 43) were presented a list of 15 problems often encountered during therapy with cancer patients. The therapists were asked to indicate the predominant psychological problems they had dealt with during their five most recently completed interventions. The authors received complete answers from 37 therapists (86%). Anxiety and depression were the two predominant problems most often encountered by therapists during therapy (31% and 29%, respectively).

Genetic testing for hereditary cancer susceptibility syndromes is a family-centered process. Nonetheless, little research has explored how the family context affects psychological responses to genetic testing. We examine how personal test results and the test results of immediate and extended family members shape responses to genetic testing.

Identifying at-risk adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients and referring them to age-appropriate psychosocial support services may be instrumental in reducing psychological distress and promoting psychosocial adaptation. The purpose of this study is to identify trajectories of clinically significant levels of distress throughout the first year following diagnosis and to distinguish factors, including supportive care service use, that predict the extent to which AYAs report distress.

Aan de hand van dit boek kunnen verpleegkundigen en andere gezondheidswerkers de dagelijks praktijk in de oncologische zorg leren kennen. Het boek leert hoe kanker ontstaat, hoe de diagnose gesteld wordt en welke behandelingen mogelijk zijn.

Dit boek gaat uitgebreid in op de klinische praktijk van predictief testen en op de multidisciplinaire context waarin predictieve tests momenteel gebeuren, o.a. voor erfelijke borstkanker. De mogelijkheden en beperkingen, alsook de psychologische, familiale, maatschappelijke en ethische implicaties van predictief genetisch testen, worden besproken. Dit boek geeft belangrijke en evenwichtige informatie over predictief testen vanuit verschillende perspectieven: praktijkervaring, literatuur en empirisch onderzoek. 

Prostaat Info 9(2010)2 p-16-17

Met de vergrijzing van de bevolking neemt het aantal oudere kankerpatiënten toe. Traditiegetrouw wordt de effectiviteit van een behandeling geëvalueerd aan de hand van overleving. Bij oudere kankerpatiënten zijn andere uitkomstmaten zoals kwaliteit van leven waarschijnlijk minstens even relevant [1]. Idealiter zou het doel van behandeling moeten zijn “to add life to years, not years to life”.

The use of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in cancer patients older than 70 is recommended. Three pre-screening instruments have been proposed: the abbreviated comprehensive geriatric assessment (aCGA), the Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13), and the Groningen frailty index (GFI). The objective of the study was to identify the most efficient pre-screening tool that accurately determines individuals who may benefit from the entire CGA. A total of 113 elderly cancer patients were assessed by means of the aCGA, VES-13, GFI and the full CGA.