Cognitive thought diary in supportive psychology for people undergoing radiotherapy: a feasibility study.

BAC KGROUND: Radiation therapy (RT ) has become one of the most widely-used and efficient treatments for cancer; nevertheless, people who undergo radiotherapy suffer the physical and psychological consequences of this stressful treatment, in addition to the psychosocial distress related to cancer. However, a Radiotherapy Unit is often a place where several patients crowd in from various hospitals with restricted timetables and, for logistic reasons, it is not easy to provide regular psychological sessions for each one. It is important to find a setting that allows us the involvement of the largest number of patients referred to the unit. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility and the effect of a brief intervention of cognitive-oriented diary on the quality of life, anxiety and depressive symptoms of patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT ), compared to a control group. METH ODS: The sample was constituted of 68 experimental subjects and 78 controls, treated with RT . Both groups were assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS -20), the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scale (HA DS) and the EORTC -QLQ at the beginning and at the end of their RT . Experimental subjects were instructed to report emotions and thoughts before attending the RT sessions in a thought diary. RES ULTS : The experimental group showed a good adherence to the diary, a reduction in mean scores of anxiety (P<0.001), depression (P<0.001), and alexithymia (P<0.001) together with an ameliorative effect on quality of life (P<0.014), compared to control group. CONCLUSI ONS: We observed a reduction in alexithymia scores in the experimental group, together with a significant reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms and an improvement in quality of life, with a moderator role of social disparity in treatment adherence. Our outcomes suggest the opportunity to consider the diary an affordable and effective device for psychologists operating in RT units, able to be extended to the majority of patients, in a simple and replicable setting

MEDUSA: Observation of atmospheric dust and water vapor close to the surface of Mars

Background: The study of airborne dust and water vapor properties at the Martian surface level is an important task for the achievement of some of the primary scientific goals of Mars exploration: to study the water cycle and present / past habitability, climate history and hazardous conditions. Method: The MEDUSA instrument has been designed for the direct in situ measurement of dust and water vapor properties, such as dust size distribution, number density, deposition rate and electrification, and water vapor abundance. Conclusion: The MEDUSA instrument reached a Technical Readiness Level > 5 within the ESA ExoMars mission development and it is well suited to be accommodated on landers and rovers for Mars exploration

Intervento psicologico tramite la tecnica del diario in un gruppo di pazienti oncologici sottoposti a trattamento radioterapico

La gestione del paziente oncologico in corso di trattamento radioterapico non pu\uf2 prescindere da un\u2019attenta valutazione delle variabili soggettive legate all\u2019emotivit\ue0 e al vissuto interno. Questo lavoro si pone gli obiettivi di indagare la presenza di alessetimia, ansia, depressione e qualit\ue0 della vita in un gruppo di pazienti oncologici e di valutare in che termini l\u2019introduzione di un intervento psicologico possa avere delle ricadute sul benessere psico-fisico.Il campione \ue8 costituito da 68 pazienti suddivisi, con modalit\ue0 random, in un gruppo sperimentale (n= 45) e uno di controllo (n=23), reclutati presso due U.O di Radioterapia di Palermo e di Pisa. Entrambi sono stati valutati al T0 (prima del trattamento), T1 (inizio del trattamento), e al T2 (fine del trattamento). Il gruppo sperimentale \ue8 stato sottoposto ad un intervento psicologico-supportivo tramite la tecnica cognitiva del diario. Nel gruppo sperimentale abbiamo riscontrato una riduzione statisticamente significativa dei livelli di alessitimia (p<0.001), ansia (p<0.001),e depressione (p= 0.001) tra il T0 e il T2. Questa differenza non \ue8 stata riscontrata nel gruppo di controllo (p<0.005). Inoltre il cambiamento \ue8 stato significativamente diverso tra il gruppo di controllo controllo e il gruppo sperimentale (interazione significativa gruppoxtempo <0.05 per tutti i test). Questo tipo di intervento psicologico sembra costituire un valido aiuto nel fronteggiare gli stressor legati alla malattia, la qual cosa ne suggerisce l'applicabilit\ue0 come terapia aggiuntiva nella pratica oncologica

Cognitive thought diary in supportive psychology for people undergoing radiotherapy: A feasibility study

Background: Radiation therapy (RT) has become one of the most widely-used and efficient treatments for cancer; nevertheless, people who undergo radiotherapy suffer the physical and psychological consequences of this stressful treatment, in addition to the psychosocial distress related to cancer. However, a Radiotherapy Unit is often a place where several patients crowd in from various hospitals with restricted timetables and, for logistic reasons, it is not easy to provide regular psychological sessions for each one. It is important to find a setting that allows us the involvement of the largest number of patients referred to the unit. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility and the effect of a brief intervention of cognitive-oriented diary on the quality of life, anxiety and depressive symptoms of patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT), compared to a control group. METHODS: The sample was constituted of 68 experimental subjects and 78 controls, treated with RT. Both groups were assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the EORTC-QLQ at the beginning and at the end of their RT. Experimental subjects were instructed to report emotions and thoughts before attending the RTsessions in a thought diary. RESULTS: The experimental group showed a good adherence to the diary, a reduction in mean scores of anxiety (P&lt;0.001), depression (P&lt;0.001), and alexithymia (P&lt;0.001) together with an ameliorative effect on quality of life (P&lt;0.014), compared to control group. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a reduction in alexithymia scores in the experimental group, together with a significant reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms and an improvement in quality of life, with a moderator role of social disparity in treatment adherence. Our outcomes suggest the opportunity to consider the diary an affordable and effective device for psychologists operating in RTunits, able to be extended to the majority of patients, in a simple and replicable setting