Psychological Distress during Ovarian Cancer Treatment: Improving Quality by Examining Patient Problems and Advanced Practice Nursing Interventions

Background/Significance. Ovarian cancer patients are prone to psychological distress. The clinical significance and best practices for distress among this population are poorly understood. Method. Secondary analysis of research records from a six month randomized control trial included 32 women with primary ovarian cancer. All received 18 advanced practice nurse (APN) visits over six months. Three sub-samples were determined by distress level (high/low) and mental health service consent for high distress. Demographic, clinical factors, patient problems and APN interventions obtained through content analysis and categorized via the Omaha System were compared. Results. Clinically-significant psychiatric conditions were identified in 8/18 (44%) high distress subjects consenting to mental health intervention. High distress subjects who refused mental health intervention had more income and housing problems than the other subjects, received the fewest interventions at baseline, and progressively more throughout the study, exceeding the other sub-samples by study completion. Conclusions. Highly-distressed women not psychologically ready to work through emotional consequences of cancer at treatment onset may obtain support from APNs to manage cancer problems as they arise. Additional studies may identify best practices for all highly-distressed women with cancer, particularly those who do not accept mental health services for distress, but suffer from its effects

Pallative Care and Chronic Disease Management

This chapter provides a brief overview of palliative care. The relationship between palliative care, the nursing role, quality of life for patients with serious illness and their families, and information pertinent to the goals of care and transitions of care are discussed. Additionally, some key national organizations that are instrumental in providing palliative care resources and guidelines are described and presented. Symptom management in palliative care is reviewed; resources are provided for further information and up-to-date symptom management guidelines. Finally, a case study is presented to pull the elements of palliative care together in the context of advance practice nursing

A chronic care ostomy self-management program for cancer survivors.

Individuals with ostomies experience extensive changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and daily routine. Patients and families are typically forced to use trial and error to improve self-management.This work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Insti-tute at the National Institutes of Health (grant number R21CA133337) and Arizona Cancer Center Support (grant numberCA023074). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis and interpretation ofthe data, and preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.Published online 25 January 2016. 12 month embargo.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]