Academic literature on the topic 'Cancer - Psychological aspects'

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe and interpret the experience of couples following the woman's surgery for breast cancer, in order to gain an in depth understanding of how this mutilating surgery affects their everyday lives. Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in Australian women, and in most industrialised nations. Women in Australia have a one in fourteen lifetime risk of developing the disease. Little is known concerning what meanings this surgery brings to the intimacy experienced between partners. It is important to seek knowledge of the phenomenon of intimacy, how the couples understand it, and how breast surgery has affected it, if at all. Literature to date has focused on the psychological and physiological effects of mastectomy on women, with little attention given to the plight of partners. A phenomenological approach was chosen for the study, and a purposive sample of seven couples was selected for the interviews. Primary data was obtained from audio taped interviews and from participant observation. Data analysis followed the protocol outlined by Colaizzi (1978), and seeks to describe, interpret and extrapolate common themes and meanings from the data.

Suffering is a fundamental experience of the human condition. Whereas the arts and humanities have struggled to make sense of this condition, no concerted effort has taken place in nursing. Suffering is painfully absent within the cancer nursing research literature, a place where suffering should be conspicuous. The purpose of this study was to explore suffering inherent in the cancer experience. The concurrent use of Travelbee's Human-To-Human Relationship Model and narrative theory provided the conceptual underpinning for this prospective ethnography. Narratives of suffering were explored among seven patients diagnosed with cancer (breast, n = 4; brain; malignant melanoma; and ovarian cancer). Five women and two men were interviewed weekly (N = 89 interviews) for a period of up to five months. Participant observation supplemented the interview data. Seven richly textured narratives revealed the suffering endured in the living-of-cancer. The narratives also detailed the informant as person, the cancer trajectory, and explanatory models of cancer causation. A second level analysis of the narratives provided an intra-group comparison of suffering. "Cascade of losses" was the overarching theme. The undermining of personhood, and a loss of faith and trust in the medical system characterized this cascade of losses. Losses were further encountered: the dismissal of symptoms presented to physicians, the failure of treatment as cure, the death of other cancer patients, and the false reassurance that "cancer can be beaten". The remaining themes were "cancer as torture" and "the work of suffering--the beauty of cancer". The findings of this study suggest that nurses may not be capable of alleviating patient suffering. Patients' lives intersect at the suffering experience; their suffering is shaped by the past, present, and future. Nurses may influence these intersections of suffering to some extent, however, it is the individual who ultimately determines the living and outcome (if any) of their suffering. In the lives of the informants, it was the love of spouses and children, faith and trust in God, and satisfaction with life's accomplishments which permitted the endurance of suffering. Competent, comfort-care provided by compassionate nurses is needed by patients who suffer with cancer.

In support of Snyder’s cognitive theory, hope has been found to be a positive factor in psychological adjustment among adult cancer patients and non-cancer paediatric patients with various illnesses. Nonetheless, Snyder’s cognitive theory of hope has not been specifically examined among childhood cancer patients and survivors. Unlike adult cancer patients, childhood cancer patients and survivors are characterized by early onset age in their cancer diagnosis which may mean that they face different psychological and physiological challenges. The identification of positive factors that attenuate negative psychological adjustment outcomes may be crucial in the development of effective therapeutic interventions. Despite that previous studies support the correlation between hope and positive adjustment outcomes, the exact cognitive mechanism that underpins the cognitive theory of hope remains underexplored. Although Snyder postulated that hope is goal-directed thinking which comprises willpower and waypower, he failed to establish any association between hope and rumination. The role of rumination in predicting the onset of mood symptoms and maintaining psychopathology has been well-researched, but it is conceptually meaningful to investigate the potential association between hope and rumination and their respective roles in affecting psychological adjustments in cancer experiences. The current thesis improves on the understanding of relationships between hope, rumination and cancer adjustment, and expands on studies of cancer adjustment by tapping into both positive and negative psychological outcomes, and examines how these two juxtaposed outcomes are associated with hope as mediated by positive and negative ruminations respectively. Eighty-nine childhood cancer survivors from the Children’s Cancer Foundation in Hong Kong took part in questionnaires that measured their levels of hope, rumination, mood symptoms and self-perceived positive changes or post-traumatic growth (PTG). The findings suggest that hope is negatively correlated with depression and anxiety, which are specifically mediated by negative cancer-related rumination. Hope is also positively correlated with PTG, which is specifically mediated by positive cancer-related rumination. These results provide empirical evidence to support the postulation by Snyder that low hope individuals adjust poorly because they are more likely to have negative rumination. High hope individuals adjust better as they are more likely to engage in positive rumination which is associated with PTG. The overall findings provide a possible explanation for the cognitive mechanism that underlies hope. A supplementary pilot study conducted measuring 20 childhood cancer patients’ hope level and mood symptoms over a period of nine months post-acute treatment also suggests patients have fewer prospective depressive symptoms have higher hope level in early measurement. The findings of the current thesis have important clinical implications. The understanding of hope and its association with rumination and cancer adjustment may inform the specific development of hope-based therapeutic interventions for childhood cancer patients and survivors, such as the hope-based storybook developed in this study with the aim to increase the hope levels of childhood cancer patients.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Clinical Psychology<br>Doctoral<br>Doctor of Psychology