Palliative Medicine and Nursing

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if psychological adaptation between cancer patients and their families is  dependent on effectiveness of their communication related to cancer. 

Methods: Seventy-four cancer out-patients (37 males, 37 females) aged 60.1 +11.2 (SD) yr receiving chemotherapy treatment at the Hiroshima University Hospital and their family members (28 males, 46 females) aged 54.8 +14.1 (SD) yr were studied. A survey was conducted using the Profile of Mood States scale and a cancer-related communication questionnaire.  

Results: Seventy-four families, 74 patients and 74 their family caregivers, returned questionnaires by mail. The results showed thatpatient psychological adaptation is 
significantly dependent on younger age (β= -0.286, p<0.05), duration of cancer diagnosis (β= 0.279, p<0.05), and poor health condition (β= 0.302, p<0.05). For family members, psychological adaptation was dependent on ability to communicate effectively(β= -0.437, p<0.01)and younger age(β= -0.169, p<0.01). 

Conclusions: The results of this study showed that better communication oncanceris
 associated with better psychological adaptation of cancer patient’s family members. It is therefore recommended that healthcare providers should provide support cancer patients and their families to have effective communication on the illness.

Background: Testicular cancer (TC) is the most common form of cancer among men. Lack of knowledge of male cancers is a major contributor to delays in seeking care for cancer symptoms and prevention of TC. The focus on this study was to examine gender differences in knowledge of testicular cancer (TC) and testicular self-examination (TSE) among students at an African university.  

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among male and female university students. A total of 1,300 first year students were approached to participate and 976 (44.8% = male and 55.2% = female accepted; giving a response rate of 75.1%. A chi square test was used to examine the differences between male and female respondents in terms of knowledge of male cancers, TC and TSE.  

Results: Only 54.2% of the sample had ever heard of male cancers. Knowledge of TC and TSE was quite low, with only 40% ever hearing of testicular cancer. Only 22% of the sample had ever heard of TSE and 15% identified a lump as a correct symptom of TC. Only 9% knew that there was some genetic predisposition to TC and 22% correctly identified the correct age-groups at risk for TC.  Overall, males had significantly higher levels of awareness (p<.001). However, there was no significant association between gender and knowledge of at least one correct symptom, at least one correct, correctly identifying the ages at risk of TC and methods of preventing TC. 

Conclusion: While males are more aware of male cancers and TC compared to women, their knowledge appears to be more general in nature. Male knowledge of specific aspects of TC which include knowledge of at least one correct symptom, knowledge of the ages at risk of TC and knowledge of at least one correct cause of TC did not statistically differ from that of females. 

Reiki is believed to be an ancient healing practice that originated thousands of years ago. Reiki therapy has no side effects and thought to provide harmony and balance to improve physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well being. Reiki is a form of energy therapy which will be relieve pain and stress. So this article is written for answer the question of ‘is reiki an effective approach to pain management?’

In the field of medicine, the acquisition of communication skills is essential for an effective, complete and personalized treatment. This is particularly true for delicate fields such as incurable diseases, palliative care (PC) and end-of-life (EOL) care. The time-factor is an important concept in the communication process, meaning here not only "the time spent in communication", often scarce in healthcare systems, but also a multiform existential dimension involving all the different figures present in the treatment process (patient-time; physician time; family-time; institution-time). 

The perception of time as an existential explanation for the dimension that the patient is living in can have an individual psychological equivalent that must be acknowledged in order to obtain truly individualized communication and a personalized approach in the doctorpatient relationship.