Search

The article introduces the Cancer Inventory of Problem Situations (CIPS) by reporting its preliminary use in a study of 84 cancer patients. Although the data presented are from a heterogeneous group of cancer patients, it is apparent that these patients perceive their disease and therapy as having significant effects in a variety of physical and psychosocial areas, including personal care, medical situations, interpersonal interactions, and work. As would be expected in a sample of chronically ill patients, the majority of cancer patients endorsed problems in the personal care category.

The article presents information on the effectiveness of group outpatient physical and behavioral therapy for treating chronic low back pain (CLBP). Both the treatments are included in most comprehensive pain programs and are thought to produce differential outcomes. The major hypothesis about the two treatment interventions is that both interventions would be helpful in treating CLBP patients. However, the physical therapy intervention should affect differentially the variables associated with physical functioning and the behavioral intervention should affect variables primarily associated with interpersonal interactions and improved psychological functioning. The majority of patients selected for the study were referred from clinics of the Sepulveda Veterans Medical Center, the Southern California Permanente Medical Group and physicians in private practice in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The study found that both treatments achieved successful outcomes in two domains of the pain experience, improving psychological and psychosocial functioning, and altering pain intensity and perception of pain.