Symptom Experience in Patients with Gynecological Cancers: The Development of Symptom Clusters through Patient Narratives

The vast majority of the increasing cancer literature on physical and psychological symptom clusters is quantitative, attempting either to model clusters through statistical techniques or to test priori clusters for their strength of relationship. Narrative symptom clusters can be particularly sensitive outcomes that can generate conceptually meaningful hypotheses for symptom cluster research. We conducted a study to explore the explanation of patients about the development and coexistence of symptoms and how patients attempted to self-manage them. We collected 12-month qualitative longitudinal data over four assessment points consisting of 39 interview data sets from 10 participants with gynecological cancer. Participants' experiences highlighted the presence of physical and psychological symptom clusters, complicating the patients' symptom experience that often lasted 1 year. While some complementary and self-management approaches were used to manage symptoms, few options and interventions were discussed. The cancer care team may be able to develop strategies for a more thorough patient assessment of symptoms reported as the most bothersome and patient-centered sensitive interventions that encompass the physiological, psychological, sociocultural, and behavioral components of the symptom experience essential for effective symptom management

Randomised controlled trials of interventions to prevent oral mucositis in patients undergoingtreatment for cancer

Introduction: Oral mucositis is an inflammatory and frequently ulcerative side effect of cancer therapy, which has been identified by patients as the most debilitating side effect of their treatment. Mucositis is a dose limiting toxicity which exerts a substantial clinical and economic impact and negatively affects patient quality of life. The patient experience of mucositis is under-reported in the literature. To date, no interventions have been identified that have proven successful in the prevention of mucositis for patients receiving all types of therapy. Vitamin E has shown conflicting results in clinical trials. This thesis combines appraisal of the literature and empirical research,and uses lessons learned from previous studies together with the results of a feasibility study to identify a best practice model for future trials. Methods: The Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) instrument was used to assess the ROB in the studies included in the Cochrane prevention review. A sensitivity analysis was conducted after studies assessed at unclear or high risk of overall bias were excluded. A systematic review of assessment instruments was conducted which identified 50 instruments. Consideration of the appropriateness of these instruments for the use in a clinical trial for the prevention of mucositis was based on the practicality, comparability, and reproducibility, and the impact of these instruments on patients. Three of these instruments were chosen for use in a clinical trial of adults undergoing stem cell transplant. Finally, a feasibility study was designed, developed and conducted which investigated vitamin E for the prevention of mucositis in patients undergoing conditioning for bone marrow transplantation. Through lessons learned from previous studies, consultations with medical professional, the MHRA, ethics committee and suppliers, a protocol was developed for a double blind RCT. The process of gaining MHRA and ethical approval, and the repackaging of intervention and placebo products to meet MA-IMP requirements are described. Results: 130 articles were assessed for risk of bias. Only ten studies were assessed as being at low overall risk of bias. Blinding of outcome assessors and adequate allocation concealment were identified to be important considerations in the planning of future studies. Although only nine patients were recruited into the feasibility study, a number of issues affecting the design and conduct of future trials were identified. Recruitment in particular was identified to be problematic. Strategies for overcoming this problem in future trials were discussed. The methods of blinding and allocation concealment employed were found to be feasible for use in future trials. Expected adverse events patients undergoing stem cell transplantation were also reported. Conclusion: Further studies are required to investigate interventions for the prevention of mucositis. It is of upmost importance that these trials are rigorous in both their methodology and subsequent reporting in order to elicit the maximum benefit for patients taking part in clinical trials, and future patients undergoing therapy for cancer.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceMedical Research CouncilGBUnited Kingdo

Communicative constructions of person-centred and non-person-centred caring in nurse-led consultations

Purpose Nursing is theorised to be a component of person-centred care. Communicative constructions of person-centred caring are a topic that needs to be studied in consultations. The study aimed to explore how person-centred caring and non-person- centred caring are verbally constructed in consultations between patients and nurse. Method This study was qualitative using audio-recorded observations from consultations with advanced nurse practitioners in nurse-led chemotherapy clinics from four hospitals in the UK through purposive sampling. Discourse analysis was used to identify communicative patterns in 45 non-participant observations of nurse consultations. Results The dominant discourse was a non-person-centred oriented discourse framed by the biomedical model. It was also possible to identify fragments of an alternative discourse—a person-oriented discourse localising health problems within the patient's personal and sociocultural context. Conclusions The prominent use of a non-person-oriented discourse focusing on the medical/technical aspects of a patient's assessment/evaluation in consultations may make it difficult for patients to raise questions and concerns from their daily lives during consultations. However, fragments of a person-oriented discourse show that it is possible for nurses to allow a person-centred approach to the consultation. The pedagogical implications have to do with raising nurses' awareness of the role of evaluative language in enhancing person-centred communication with patients in clinical interactions

Adverse Events of Auricular Therapy: A Systematic Review

The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the literature on adverse events associated with auricular therapy (AT). Case reports, case series, surveys, and all types of clinical trials reporting adverse events of AT were included. Relevant articles were mainly retrieved from 13 electronic databases and seven Chinese journals on complementary medicine. AT-related adverse events were reported in 32 randomized controlled trials, five uncontrolled clinical trials, four case reports, and two controlled clinical trials. For auricular acupuncture, the most frequently reported adverse events were tenderness or pain at insertion, dizziness, local discomfort, minor bleeding and nausea, and so forth. For auricular acupressure, local skin irritation and discomfort, mild tenderness or pain, and dizziness were commonly reported. Skin irritation, local discomfort, and pain were detected in auricular electroacupuncture, and minor infection was identified in auricular bloodletting therapy. Most of these events were transient, mild, and tolerable, and no serious adverse events were identified. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that AT is a relatively safe approach. Considering the patient’s safety, prospective or retrospective surveys are needed in future research to gather practitioner-reported and patient-reported adverse events on AT, and the quality of adverse events reporting in future AT trials should be improved

Management of the respiratory distress symptom cluster in lung cancer: a randomised controlled feasibility trial.

BACKGROUND: Breathlessness, cough and fatigue are distressing symptoms for patients with lung cancer. There is evidence that these three symptoms form a discreet symptom cluster. This study aimed to feasibly test a new non-pharmacological intervention for the management of the Respiratory Distress Symptom Cluster (breathlessness-cough-fatigue) in lung cancer. METHOD: This was a multi-centre, randomised controlled non-blinded parallel group feasibility trial. Eligible patients (patients with primary lung cancer and 'bothered' by at least two of the three cluster symptoms) received usual care plus a multicomponent intervention delivered over two intervention training sessions and a follow-up telephone call or usual care only. Follow-up was for 12 weeks, and end-points included six numerical rating scales for breathlessness severity, Dyspnoea-12, Manchester Cough in Lung Cancer scale, FACIT-Fatigue scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, Lung Cancer Symptom Scale and the EQ-5D-3L, collected at baseline, week 4 and week 12. RESULTS: One hundred seven patients were randomised over 8 months; however, six were removed from further analysis due to protocol violations (intervention group n = 50 and control group n = 51). Of the ineligible patients (n = 608), 29 % reported either not experiencing two or more symptoms or not being 'bothered' by at least two symptoms. There was 29 % drop-out by week 4, and by week 12, a further two patients in the control group were lost to follow-up. A sample size calculation indicated that 122 patients per arm would be needed to detect a clinically important difference in the main outcome for breathlessness, cough and fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: The study has provided evidence of the feasibility and acceptability of a new intervention in the lung cancer population and warrants a fully powered trial before we reach any conclusions. The follow-on trial will test the hypothesis that the intervention improves symptom cluster of breathlessness, cough and fatigue better than usual care alone. Full economic evaluation will be conducted in the main trial

Impact of HIV-related stigma on treatment adherence: systematic review and meta-synthesis

Introduction: Adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a critical determinant of HIV-1 RNA viral suppression and health outcomes. It is generally accepted that HIV-related stigma is correlated with factors that may undermine ART adherence, but its relationship with ART adherence itself is not well established. We therefore undertook this review to systematically assess the relationship between HIV-related stigma and ART adherence. Methods: We searched nine electronic databases for published and unpublished literature, with no language restrictions. First we screened the titles and abstracts for studies that potentially contained data on ART adherence. Then we reviewed the full text of these studies to identify articles that reported data on the relationship between ART adherence and either HIV-related stigma or serostatus disclosure. We used the method of meta-synthesis to summarize the findings from the qualitative studies. Results: Our search protocol yielded 14,854 initial records. After eliminating duplicates and screening the titles and abstracts, we retrieved the full text of 960 journal articles, dissertations and unpublished conference abstracts for review. We included 75 studies conducted among 26,715 HIV-positive persons living in 32 countries worldwide, with less representation of work from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Among the 34 qualitative studies, our meta-synthesis identified five distinct third-order labels through an inductive process that we categorized as themes and organized in a conceptual model spanning intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural levels. HIV-related stigma undermined ART adherence by compromising general psychological processes, such as adaptive coping and social support. We also identified psychological processes specific to HIV-positive persons driven by predominant stigmatizing attitudes and which undermined adherence, such as internalized stigma and concealment. Adaptive coping and social support were critical determinants of participants’ ability to overcome the structural and economic barriers associated with poverty in order to successfully adhere to ART. Among the 41 quantitative studies, 24 of 33 cross-sectional studies (71%) reported a positive finding between HIV stigma and ART non-adherence, while 6 of 7 longitudinal studies (86%) reported a null finding (Pearson's χ 2=7.7; p=0.005). Conclusions: We found that HIV-related stigma compromised participants’ abilities to successfully adhere to ART. Interventions to reduce stigma should target multiple levels of influence (intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural) in order to have maximum effectiveness on improving ART adherence