The experience of financial stress among emerging adult cancer survivors.

Objective: The experience of cancer-related financial stress was examined within the developmental context of emerging adulthood.Methodological approach: This study is a secondary analysis of data drawn from two samples of testicular or hematologic cancer survivors. In-depth interviews from 52 emerging adult (EA) cancer survivors, ages 18-29, were coded by combining thematic analysis with an abductive approach.Findings: Emergent themes included some common to most age groups, including worries about medical costs and availability of health insurance, as well as specific age-related concerns, such as fertility preservation. Financial stress appeared to interrupt developmental tasks of emerging adulthood, including completing an education, establishing independence, and managing relationships. Surprisingly, financial stress was experienced as a benefit for some participants.Conclusion: Financial stress affects EA cancer survivors in unique ways. To provide support, health professionals should consider survivors' developmental life stage to understand their financial stress, and ultimately, to improve quality of life

Men Caring for Women in the Cancer Context

This chapter provides an overview of the consequences of a cancer diagnosis for female patients and their male caregivers, mostly partners or spouses. The majority of the couples adjust well; only a minority shows elevated levels of psychological distress a year or more after diagnosis. Nevertheless, the literature shows that cancer and its treatment may have a considerable impact on sexual functioning, fertility, and other aspects of the relationship. Communication between patients and partners and between couples and health care professionals plays a key role in solutions to these problems. Psychosocial interventions that may ameliorate the stresses these couples face are presented throughout the chapter. The authors also address issues of gender and caregiving

The Importance of Parents' Dyadic Coping for Children

Stress and coping in couples have received increased research attention during the past two decades, particularly with regard to how couples cope with stress. Dyadic coping has emerged as a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction. Less research has focused on the effects of dyadic coping on other outcomes or family members. In the present study, the authors addressed this gap by examining parents' dyadic coping as a predictor of children's internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. In Studies 1 and 2 self-report data were used to assess parents' dyadic coping through the parents' and the children's perspective, and Study 3 included observational data on dyadic coping. Parental dyadic coping was related to children's externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior, although results for the latter two outcomes were not consistent across the three studies. The findings suggest that parents' dyadic coping deserves greater consideration within the context of child development

The experience of financial stress among emerging adult cancer survivors.

Objective: The experience of cancer-related financial stress was examined within the developmental context of emerging adulthood.Methodological approach: This study is a secondary analysis of data drawn from two samples of testicular or hematologic cancer survivors. In-depth interviews from 52 emerging adult (EA) cancer survivors, ages 18-29, were coded by combining thematic analysis with an abductive approach.Findings: Emergent themes included some common to most age groups, including worries about medical costs and availability of health insurance, as well as specific age-related concerns, such as fertility preservation. Financial stress appeared to interrupt developmental tasks of emerging adulthood, including completing an education, establishing independence, and managing relationships. Surprisingly, financial stress was experienced as a benefit for some participants.Conclusion: Financial stress affects EA cancer survivors in unique ways. To provide support, health professionals should consider survivors developmental life stage to understand their financial stress, and ultimately, to improve quality of life

Stress and coping in the explanation of psychological adjustment among chronically ill adults

This study evaluates the utility of a stress and coping paradigm for explanining individual differences in psychological adjustment to chronic illness. Using data from the first wave of a longitudinal study of 170 middle-aged and elderly adults faced with one of four chronic illnesses (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis), this paper examines the relationship between the stresses of chronic illness and coping, and the ability of coping to explain psychological adjustment. Results show coping strategy use tends to be minimally explained by medical diagnosis. Cognitive strategies, including information seeking, are related to positive affect while emotional strategies, particularly those involving avoidance, blame and emotional ventilation, are related to negative affect, lowered self-esteem and poorer adjustment to illness. While the findings suggest that a stress and coping model may be valuable in understanding adjustment among the chronically ill, the general modesty of coping effects and the failure of the stress buffering hypothesis to explain adjustment indicates a need for new research approaches and some modification of current theories of coping.

Effectiveness of expressive writing interventions with adolescents: A meta-analysis and exploration of mechanisms.

Expressive Writing (EW) is a brief, minimal cost intervention designed to improve health and psychological well being through cognitive and emotional elaboration of stressful experiences. EW involves writing about one\u2019s deepest thoughts and feelings several times for a short period. Writing repeatedly in an emotional way may affect health cognitive reappraisal and completion of a narrative. These mechanisms are hypothesized to lead to less rumination, a greater sense of meaning, and physiological changes, e.g., immune system improvements. Most studies of EW have been conducted with adults, but its simplicity suggests that it might help adolescents facing major stress. We present a meta-analysis of EW studies with adolescents that examined whether EW is effective for adolescents. We examined six outcome domains and conducted analyses for the whole sample and for specific subgroups (e.g., gender; those with high depressive symptoms). Combining 22 studies (25 effect sizes) of adolescents aged 10-18, we found a positive but small effect size adjusted for publication bias (g = 0.126, p <. 01). Students with high levels of emotional problems benefitted more; EW was most effective in outcome domains that required emotional regulation. A small study of 20 adolescents who wrote expressively for three days after the sudden death of a classmate provides additional evidence for this emotional regulation process. However, adolescents may not have the cognitive processes necessary to create narratives on their own and emotional issues may be left open. Although our findings are encouraging, we conclude that EW alone is not an effective intervention for adolescents, as they may need scaffolding from parents or counselors to aid them in cognitively processing stressful or traumatic events. More generally, our data suggest that EW may operate differently with vulnerable or younger populations