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Perceived discrimination (PD; e.g. racism, agism, sexism, etc.) negatively impacts quality of life (QOL) among cancer patients. Prior research has established that for African American Cancer Patients (AACPs) only disengagement/denial coping mediated the PD-QOL relationship. In contrast, for Caucasian American Cancer Patients (CACPs), both agentic and disengagement/denial coping were mediators of the PD-QOL relationship. However, according to social constraint theory there may be a difference between subtle and overt PD in terms of the utility of certain coping mechanisms in relation to QOL, especially for AACPs. 217 AACPs and 121 CACPs completed measures of PD, coping (agentic, disengagement/denial, adaptive disengagement) and QOL. PD items were classified as subtle or overt microaggressions. PD was mainly attributed to race/ethnicity by AACPs and to income, age, and physical appearance for CACPs. : In both subtle and overt microaggression models with CACPs, agentic coping and disengagement/denial coping were significant mediators of PD-QOL. Like CACPs, for AACPs, agentic and disengagement/denial coping were significant in the context of subtle microaggressions. In contrast, for overt microaggression only disengagement/denial coping was a significant mediator of the PD-QOL relationship for AACPs. Adaptive disengagement was related to QOL only for AACPs. : Whereas more research is needed, it appears that overt microaggressions for AACPs, that consist mainly of racial and ethnic maltreatment, constitute a class of social contexts that may raise above the threshold for serious threat and harm, and, as a result, disengagement/constraint may reduce negative consequences. This additional burden for AACPs contributes to disparities in QOL. Future research is needed on the utility of adaptive disengagement for AACPs in relation to PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social relationship coping efficacy (SRCE) represents the ability to maintain or enhance social relationships in the context of serious illness. The purpose of the current study was to confirm the factor structure, psychometric properties, and utility of the Italian version of the SRCE scale. Methods: 181 breast cancer patients completed the SRCE-Italian (SRCE-I), the Cancer Behavior Inventory–Brief/Italian (CBI–B/I), quality of life (QOL) measures (EORTC QLQ-C30; EORTC QLQ-BR23), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: The SRCE-I was internally consistent (Cronbach alpha =.95) and factor analysis confirmed that the SRCE-I was a unidimensional construct. In terms of validity, the SRCE-I was correlated with QOL (EORTC QLQ-30, Social Functioning, r =.33, Emotional Functioning, r =.57, and Global Health/Quality of Life; r =.54) and scales of the EORTC QLQ-BR23 (e.g., Future Perspective, r =.38; Breast Symptoms, −.31). SRCE-I was also correlated negatively with the HADS (r = −.72) and positively with the CBI–B/I (r =.79), a measure of coping efficacy (all ps <.001). Mediation analyses confirmed the utility of the SRCE-I scale as a mediating mechanism in enhancing social functioning and QOL. Conclusions: The SRCE-I is a structurally sound, reliable, and valid measure that assesses the ability to maintain or enhance social support and mitigate the loss of social support. The SRCE-I can be used as a screening measure to assess low efficacy for maintaining social support or as a measure to detect the change in efficacy for enhancing social support in interventions to improve the QOL of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Relationship Coping Efficacy scale (SRCE) was designed to assess cancer patients' efficacy for maintaining social support and social relationships. The purpose of the study was to confirm the psychometric quality and utility of a Greek-language version of the (SRCE) scale. The study included 116 women with breast cancer, who underwent surgery at a public hospital In Greece. The SRCE scale was translated using standard procedures and then culturally adapted for use in Greece. Psychometric evaluation of the SRCE-Greek scale included reliability, structural validity and convergent validity analyses. The SRCE-Greek scale demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach a 0.87), and split-half reliability (Spearman-Brown, 0.747; Guttman, 0.742). The structural construct validity was confirmed with factor analysis using principal axis factor analysis. Construct validity was further supported with convergent validity with the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) (Acquiring Social Support, Reframing) and Family Support scale. The Greek language SRCE has strong internal consistency reliability and construct validity, as well as satisfactory convergent validity. Results provide support for the use of the SRCE-GR as a research and clinical instrument for the assessment of breast cancer patient's self-efficacy with regard to maintaining and enhancing close social relationships and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Self-efficacy expectations are associated with improvements in problematic outcomes widely considered clinically significant (ie, emotional distress, fatigue, and pain), related to positive health behaviors, and as a type of personal agency, inherently valuable. Self-efficacy expectancies, estimates of confidence to execute behaviors, are important in that changes in self-efficacy expectations are positively related to future behaviors that promote health and well-being. The current meta-analysis investigated the impact of psychological interventions on self-efficacy expectations for a variety of health behaviors among cancer patients.Methods: Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched with specific search terms for identifying randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that focused on psychologically based interventions. Included studies had (a) an adult cancer sample, (b) a self-efficacy expectation measure of specific behaviors, and (c) an RCT design. Standard screening and reliability procedures were used for selecting and coding studies. Coding included theoretically informed moderator variables.Results: Across 79 RCTs, 223 effect sizes, and 8678 participants, the weighted average effect of self-efficacy expectations was estimated as g = 0.274 (P < .001). Consistent with the self-efficacy theory, the average effect for in-person intervention delivery (g = 0.329) was significantly greater than for all other formats (g = 0.154, P = .023; eg, audiovisual, print, telephone, and Web/internet).Conclusions: The results establish the impact of psychological interventions on self-efficacy expectations as comparable in effect size with commonly reported outcomes (distress, fatigue, pain). Additionally, the result that in-person interventions achieved the largest effect is supported by the social learning theory and could inform research related to the development and evaluation of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'letting go' or relinquishing control has a long intellectual history, including the earliest Taoist writings, long-standing religious traditions, modern conceptualizations of religious coping, and current psychological control theory. This paper briefly traces the ancient roots of 'letting go,' with an emphasis on Stoic philosophers, and plants it firmly in current control theory and religious coping research, with a focus on its more modern conceptualization, that of secondary control. Presenting the theoretical perspective, which is grounded in religious conceptions of control of outcomes integrated with modern control theory in psychology, is the main goal of this paper. However, the theoretical integration is bolstered by some initial descriptive findings based on cancer patients and survivors. This integration of religious coping and psychological theory has important implications for testing the utility of personal control and God-referenced control as ways to cope with the uncertainties of a serious illness such as cancer. Finally, the theory and descriptive findings lay the groundwork for future empirical studies and the development of counseling interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In racial disparities research, perceived discrimination is a proposed risk factor for unfavorable health outcomes. In a proposed "threshold-constraint" theory, discrimination intensity may exceed a threshold and require coping strategies, but social constraint limits coping options for African Americans, who may react to perceived racial discrimination with disengagement, because active strategies are not viable under this social constraint. Caucasian Americans may experience less discrimination and lower social constraint, and may use more active coping strategies. There were 213 African Americans and 121 Caucasian Americans with cancer who participated by completing measures of mistreatment, coping, and quality of life. African Americans reported more mistreatment than Caucasian Americans (p < 001) and attributed mistreatment more to race or ethnicity (p < .001). In the mistreatment-quality of life relationship, disengagement was a significant mediator for Caucasians (B = -.3 9 ; Cl . 13--.83) and African Americans (B = --.20; Cl .07- 43). Agentic coping was a significant mediator only for Caucasians (B = --.48; Cl .18-81). Discrimination may exceed threshold more often for African Americans than for Caucasians and social constraint may exert greater limits for African Americans. Results suggest that perceived discrimination affects quality of life for African Americans with cancer because their coping options to counter mistreatment, which is racially based, are limited. This process may also affect treatment, recovery, and survivorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background An estimated 30% of cancer patients are expected to experience clinically significant psychological distress during the treatment phase of their disease. Despite significant attention being directed to the mental health needs of individuals undergoing and completing treatment, there is less known about the mental health needs of survivors and the role of potential protective factors in survivorship, such as coping self-efficacy and social support. Method One hundred and twenty-four post-treatment cancer survivors (mean age = 62.23 years, women = 70%, average 9.3 years post-treatment) were asked to complete measures of physical symptoms, coping self-efficacy, social support, and depression as part of a national convenience sample of cancer patients and survivors. Results About 20% of participants possessed scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depressed Mood Scale indicative of clinically relevant depression. Coping self-efficacy was not only a significant predictor of depression (43% Variance Accounted For); it also partially mediated the relationship between symptoms and depression. Social support accounted for limited variance and was not a significant predictor of depression in a model containing both social support and coping self-efficacy as predictors. Conclusion A substantial minority of post-treatment survivors reported depression symptomatology. Coping self-efficacy may be an important component of patients' adjustment and possible target for intervention. These results highlight the ongoing mental health and support needs of cancer survivors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Religious beliefs have received relatively little attention in research on coping with cancer. In this study, the relationship of religious beliefs and perceived social support with adjustment to cancer was studied in a coping model that included self-efficacy for coping as a mediator. Of particular interest was the relationship between religious beliefs and social support. Method: Data were collected from 164 in-treatment cancer patients. They completed measures of religious beliefs, social support, physical functioning, self-efficacy for coping, and adjustment. A model comparison approach was used to assess the fit of models that included or excluded the contribution of religious beliefs while testing the relationship between religious beliefs and social support. Results: Religious beliefs were more strongly connected to perceived social support than with other constructs. Importantly, a coping model that included religious beliefs fit the data significantly better than a model without paths related to religious beliefs. Self-efficacy partially mediated the relation of age, physical functioning, and perceived support to adjustment, but not religious beliefs. Discussion: Religious beliefs may not directly affect self-efficacy and adjustment; however, cancer patients who have religious beliefs may experience an enhanced sense of social support from a community with whom they share those beliefs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures typically do not incorporate patients’ preferences for domains such as physical, emotional, functional and social/family well-being, which may compromise precision. A forced-choice domain-preference measure was developed to assess the importance of HRQOL domains. About 194 cancer patients completed the domain-preference measure, along with measures of HRQOL, coping, adjustment, and life satisfaction. Patients ranked emotional well-being as most important and the loss of social-family well-being as the most difficult to do without. A weighting algorithm revealed no advantage to incorporating individuals’ domain preferences in HRQOL assessment; however, preliminary evidence suggested that HRQOL measurement may be more accurate in predicting outcomes for individuals with no distinct domain preferences than those with distinct preference profiles. This study provides preliminary evidence for the validity of current measures of HRQOL, which may inherently take into account patients’ domain preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cancer Behavior Inventory (CBI), a measure of self-efficacy for coping with cancer, was revised by adding a new stress management scale and reducing its length from 43 to 33 items. The 33-item CBI was administered to 280 cancer patients. A principal factors analysis with varimax rotation yielded the hypothesized seven factors (αs in parentheses): (1) maintenance of activity and independence (α=0.86), (2) seeking and understanding medical information (α=0.88), (3) stress management (α=0.86), (4) coping with treatment-related side-effects (α=0.82), (5) accepting cancer/maintaining positive attitude (α=0.86), (6) affective regulation (α=0.81), and (7) seeking support (α=0.80). The α for the entire CBI was 0.94, the test-retest (1 week) reliability coefficient was 0.74, and correlations with measures of quality of life and coping supported its validity. The CBI may be useful to researchers and clinicians and can be integrated into a self-regulation model of coping. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the outcome of a factor analysis conducted for the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale--Self Report (PAIS-SR) on data obtained from a sample of patients who had a variety of cancer diagnoses. Seven conceptual scales of the PAIS-SR; Internal consistency; Validity; Correlations with other measures.

We studied perceptions of the importance and difficulty of coping behaviors from the perspectives of cancer patients (n = 33) and health care providers (i.e. nursing and technical personnel, n = 24). They rated the importance and difficulty of 43 behaviors that correspond to six domains of coping with cancer. Generally, ratings of importance were similar for both patients and providers. However, patients rated the domains of Coping with Treatment Related Side Effects and Seeking Support as less important than staff. Ratings of difficulty were quite divergent. Patients perceived coping as less difficult than the medical staff in the following domains: Maintenance of Activity and Independence, Coping With Treatment-Related Side-Effects, Accepting Cancer/Maintaining Positive Attitude, and Seeking Support. These differences in difficulty ratings between patients and health care providers may reflect distinct perspectives or schemas about coping. That is, patients may hold ‘positive illusions’ about their coping capacity and, therefore, rate coping as less difficult. Health care providers may overestimate patients' distress and, therefore, underestimate patients' coping capacity. An understanding of these different perspectives may assist medical staff in fostering self-efficacy expectations for coping behaviors. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to a comment of the study regarding the relationship between religion/spirituality and mental health in cancer. It recognizes the recommendations to strengthen the research and provides answer to several questions raised in the study. The author also acknowledges the suggestion for a greater attention to the selection of psychometrically religion/spirituality measures in the study.