Psycho

Objective: Definitions and measures of significant others' mental health vary, but stress processes have been associated with caregiver outcomes of this kind. Thus, various mental health outcomes probably appear, either as specific responses to particular types of caregiver stressors, or as part of a general response resulting from an accumulation of various stressors. The present study explores the occurrence of symptoms of strain with regard to depression, exhaustion, and emotional well-being in significant others of patients dying from lung cancer, and how these symptoms coexist.Methods: Measures used were the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, the OLdenburg Burnout Inventory, and the Swedish Health-Related Quality of Life Survey. Data from 84 significant others of patients dying from lung cancer were collected at a time-point during the last 4 months before the patients died and subsequently analysed. The occurrence of symptoms of strain was established by creating cut-off scores from the general population. To explore how the different symptoms coexisted, hierarchical agglomerative cluster analyses were conducted using Ward's method.Results: Approximately 40% of the significant others reported symptoms of strain for each of the three outcomes, and a coexistence was found since the significant others clustered as subgroups, ranging from ‘high on all scales’ to ‘low on all scales’.Conclusion: A considerable proportion of the significant others were thus negatively affected in terms of mental health. We conclude that being a significant other of a person dying from lung cancer most likely results in a general response to this major life event. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

BackgroundFear of recurrence (FoR) following head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment is a major patient concern but is infrequently discussed in outpatient settings and may cause significant detrimental effect on patient psychological well-being.Fear of recurrence (FoR) following head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment is a major patient concern but is infrequently discussed in outpatient settings and may cause significant detrimental effect on patient psychological well-being.AimThe aim of this paper is to determine longitudinal trends and predictors of significant FoR.The aim of this paper is to determine longitudinal trends and predictors of significant FoR.MethodProspective data collection was obtained in 189 post-treatment HNC patients with 456 clinic attendances from October 2008 to January 2011. All patients completed Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI), University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire version 4 and the FoR questionnaires using a combination of paper and touch-screen technology.Prospective data collection was obtained in 189 post-treatment HNC patients with 456 clinic attendances from October 2008 to January 2011. All patients completed Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI), University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire version 4 and the FoR questionnaires using a combination of paper and touch-screen technology.ResultsThe prevalence of significant FoR was 35%, which was stable longitudinally. Logistic regression-delineated predictors of significant FoR were young age (<65 years), anxiety/mood and patient-reported FoR. Conventional prognostic factors including standard clinicopathological factors, treatment modality and length of follow-up did not predict significant FoR. Over time, 20% of patients reported significant FoR intermittently, whereas 30% experienced it consistently. The remaining 50% did not experience significant FoR.The prevalence of significant FoR was 35%, which was stable longitudinally. Logistic regression-delineated predictors of significant FoR were young age (<65 years), anxiety/mood and patient-reported FoR. Conventional prognostic factors including standard clinicopathological factors, treatment modality and length of follow-up did not predict significant FoR. Over time, 20% of patients reported significant FoR intermittently, whereas 30% experienced it consistently. The remaining 50% did not experience significant FoR.DiscussionPatient-related characteristics were more important than clinicopathological prognostic factors in predicting significant FoR, potentially creating a mismatch between the doctors' perception of patient's experience of FoR with what patients may experience. In the long term, FoR is expressed across a spectrum extending from ‘normal’ FoR to persistent significant FoR with an intermediate category of intermittent significant FoR. Those patients experiencing intermittent and consistent levels of significant FoR may benefit from psychological support. This study confirmed that self-reported screening FoR using the PCI is a valuable tool in identifying significant FoR. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Patient-related characteristics were more important than clinicopathological prognostic factors in predicting significant FoR, potentially creating a mismatch between the doctors' perception of patient's experience of FoR with what patients may experience. In the long term, FoR is expressed across a spectrum extending from ‘normal’ FoR to persistent significant FoR with an intermediate category of intermittent significant FoR. Those patients experiencing intermittent and consistent levels of significant FoR may benefit from psychological support. This study confirmed that self-reported screening FoR using the PCI is a valuable tool in identifying significant FoR. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Aims: To identify the characteristics of optimistic parents of children with cancer. To examine the relationship between optimism, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, coping and subjective health perception in parents of children with cancer and parents of healthy children.Methods: One hundred parents of children with cancer were recruited during attendance at Oncology Out-patient Clinics at a UK Regional Cancer Centre. A comparison group of 117 parents of healthy children was also recruited. All parents completed a questionnaire, providing demographic and medical information relating to the child, dispositional optimism, psychological distress, life satisfaction, coping and subjective health perception.Results: Parents of children with cancer had higher levels of anxiety, depression, optimism, satisfaction with life and subjective health perception than the comparison group. Optimism was significantly correlated with satisfaction with life, subjective health perception, anxiety and depression in both groups.Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of optimism in relationship to psychological distress in parents of children with cancer. Interventions targeting parents' optimism are recommended as a potential source of coping with adversity within this population. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Objectives: The EORTC OUT-PATSAT35 RT questionnaire evaluates the satisfaction with care (SC) expressed by cancer outpatients treated with radiotherapy. In this study we assess the psychometric properties of the OUT-PATSAT35 RT when applied to a sample of Spanish patients.Methods: A total of 100 patients with different tumor sites completed the EORTC core questionnaire, QLQ-C30, the OUT-PATSAT35 RT, the Oberst patients' perception of care quality and satisfaction scale (OS) and the item on intention to recommend the hospital (IR). Psychometric evaluation of the structure, reliability and validity of the questionnaire was conducted.Results: Multitrait-scaling analysis showed that 33 out of 34 item–scale correlation coefficients met the standards for convergent validity and that many of them met the standards for discriminant validity. Cronbach's coefficients were good (0.70–0.97) for all scales except environment.Correlations between the areas of the QLQ-C30 and OUT-PATSAT35 RT were generally low (<0.40). Correlations between the OS and the IR were moderate with the EORTC OUT-PATSAT35 RT. Areas whose contents were more related had higher correlation coefficients (>0.50), and vice versa (<0.20).Patients with higher scores on the OS and the IR, patients who had more visits to the doctor and patients who had a better performance status showed higher SC levels in 12, 8 and 1 OUT-PATSAT35 RT areas, respectively.Conclusions: The OUT-PATSAT35 RT appears to be a reliable and valid instrument when applied to a sample of Spanish cancer patients. These results are in line with those of the validation study conducted by the authors of the questionnaire. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Cancer Locus of Control (CLOC) scale on a Greek sample of advanced cancer patients. METHODS: The scale was translated with the forward-backward procedure to Greek. The CLOC scale was administered to 140 advanced cancer patients. It was administered twice, with a 3-day interval, to 100 (of the 140) eligible patients with advanced cancer. Together with the CLOC scale, the patients also completed the Greek Mental Adjustment to Cancer (G-MAC) scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using the AMOS 7.0 analysis. The reliability was assessed by the internal consistency (Cronbach&#x27;s α coefficients), test-retest (Spearman&#x27;s r value) of the instrument, and inter-item correlations. Construct validity was assessed using the G-MAC scale, interscale correlations, item-scale correlations, and scales-total correlations. RESULTS: The homogeneity of the subscales proved to be satisfactory (α coefficient range...

We demonstrate the utility of partitioning the spiritual well-being (SpWB) construct into spiritual and religious components using results from a study of the relationship of existential well-being to health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a sample of 237 cancer survivors. Existential and religious well-being were measured using the FACIT-Sp-12 and HRQOL was measured using the mental and physical component scores of the SF-12. In hierarchical linear regression analyses, existential well-being fully mediated religious well-being's effect on HRQOL and explained unique variance in both the mental and physical HRQOL domains, controlling for demographic, disease, and psychosocial variables previously shown to impact HRQOL. Religious well-being was not predictive of HRQOL. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) is of prime importance for the horror genre since Hitchcock places horror in settings of everyday life. It is also important for its narrative structure along with the editing of the shower scene, God's eye view shots of staircase scenes that limit the view of the audience, the use of voice over for making meaning, altering the identification of the viewer, the psychological aspect and score. The movie has had an unignorable effect on cinema with its sequels, prequel, a documentary about the movie, an avant-garde movie which is a replica, an appropriation of Psycho presented as an art installation, a semibiographic movie on the process of producing the movie, a murder scene that became a cliché as well as borrowings or references in other movies and countless books, reviews and articles about it. Psycho is a favorite subject of the studies which primarily analyze its narrative, film score, and psychoanalysis. This study, choosing a restricted angle, aims to analyze the gaze and voice over with regard to the relationship between characters and places. With this aim the embodied metaphors which are closely linked with 'the eye' in the movie are also researched. The look, the gaze and the metaphors of the eye contribute greatly to the aesthetics and psychology of the movie. The use of the gaze and voice over for making meaning to reflect the psychological states of the characters is researched thoroughly. In accordance with this purpose, the techniques and elements which are relevant to this subject are mentioned including mise-en-scéne, cinematography, film setting and decor.

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare men and women's accounts of chemotherapy-induced alopecia.Design: Secondary analysis of narrative interview data.Participants: Thirty-seven people aged 18–38 years, including 11 men and 8 women who had experienced hair loss, interviewed between 2000 and 2005.Setting: Participants were recruited throughout the United Kingdom.Results: Hair loss made many men and women acutely aware of their vulnerability and visibility as a ‘cancer patient’. Both men and women described a sense of strangeness or shock when they lost their hair and experienced various negative reactions when people assumed their hairless appearance was a lifestyle choice. The most striking contrast in men's and women's accounts was that women spoke solely of the loss of hair from the head and face above the eye line, and men spoke about losing hair from wider body surfaces. Only women mentioned being encouraged by others to disguise or to prevent hair loss. The results are discussed in relation to gendered assumptions about the distribution of body hair.Conclusions: Contrary to prevailing assumptions, both women and men described negative (and often similar) feelings about hair loss. Understanding these experiences can help professionals better equip their patients to deal with this aspect of their treatment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Objective: The Revised-Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) assesses illness perceptions according to Leventhal's self-regulatory model. The aim of this paper is to present findings on the reliability and validity of the IPQ-R in a population of Greek cancer patients.Methods: A total of 206 patients completed a Greek translation of the IPQ-R and the Greek version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The scale's reliability was investigated by examining its internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and its test–retest reliability. Structural validity was examined through factor analyses. Predictive validity was tested by regressing BDI scores on IPQ subscale scores. Inter-relationships between IPQ-R dimensions were also examined by computing Pearson's Correlation Coefficients.Results: Cronbach's alpha showed satisfactory internal consistency for the IPQ-R subscales. Paired samples' t-test showed good test–retest reliability. Factor analysis of the IPQ-R items revealed that the Greek version reflects the structure of the original with the only difference being that the ‘Consequences’ and ‘Emotional Representations’ subscales loaded on one factor. Factor analysis of the causal dimension items revealed a different structure of Causal Representations than that of the original questionnaire yielding three main factors: Psychological Attributions, Behavioral, and External Factors. Multiple regression analyses showed that Consequences, Emotional Representations, Illness Identity, and Psychological Attributions were the best predictors for depression.Conclusions: Translation of the IPQ-R has good reliability and similar structure to that of the original. Difficulties to confirm the structure of Causal Representations may represent cultural differences in understanding illness causation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.