Search

While many cancer patients who use tobacco try to quit post-diagnosis, some prefer to quit without using tobacco treatment, despite evidence against unassisted quit attempts. This study aimed to understand the rationale for some cancer patients' desire to quit tobacco without assistance. Thirty-five adult cancer patients who currently used tobacco and declined tobacco treatment because of the desire to quit unassisted provided data via a standardized questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The sample was predominately White, non-Hispanic (85.71%) and female (68.57%). The most common cancer site was gynecological. Key themes that emerged from the interviews were: self-reliance, willpower, social norms, and negative attitudes toward tobacco treatment. The most frequently endorsed barrier to tobacco treatment was " I know others who have quit without tobacco treatment" (82.86%). This study with cancer patients identified affective, cognitive, and personality factors related to quitting unassisted, and social and systemic reasons to not use tobacco treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite growing evidence that participation in psychological trauma research is well tolerated by children and parents, ethics boards may voice concerns regarding research with families with recent acute trauma exposure. Factors impacting child and parent experiences of research participation are not well documented, particularly for methodologies including observational components. Objectives: This study describes child and parent perceptions of research participation involving an observational task following an acute traumatic event and explores potential relationships between research experience and selected demographic factors (race/ethnicity, sex, age, prior trauma exposure), and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Methods: As part of a larger study on the role of biopsychosocial factors in post-traumatic stress symptoms, 96 child-parent dyads (ages 8-12 years, M = 10.6) participated in a three-time point study following hospitalization for pediatric injury. At baseline, children and parents completed measures of reactions to research participation, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and trauma history. Measures of post-traumatic stress symptoms were repeated at 6- and 12-week follow-up assessments. Results: The majority of families reported they were glad they participated in the research study (61% children; 72% parents) and felt good about helping others (74% children; 93% parents). Negative feelings were uncommon (<10% of families). Perceptions of participation were not related to race, sex, or trauma history, but child age significantly factored into trust of the research team and informed consent (Spearman's [rho] = 0.289, p < 0.01). Reactions to research were not significantly related to child or parent post-traumatic stress symptoms at any time point. Conclusion: Current results extend past research to suggest that most children's and parents' research experience is positive, even when completing an observational task during hospitalization for an injury. Children under the age of 10 years may perceive their participation as less voluntary, supporting prior findings that additional steps be taken to ensure their understanding of their choice in participation.

Introduction Many cancer patients who smoke cigarettes want to quit. Unfortunately, many of these cancer patients prefer to quit without the aid of pharmacotherapy or behavioral counseling. The teachable moment of cancer diagnosis might still position these cancer patients to make meaningful changes in their smoking behavior, but no study has documented the trajectory of smoking cessation outcomes among cancer patients who want to quit "on their own." This study aimed to fill this gap in the literature. Methods In this mixed-methods, longitudinal study, 35 cancer patients who declined tobacco treatment because of the desire to quit "on their own" provided data via three surveys and 1–2 semi-structured interviews. The observation period spanned 60 days. Participants were recently diagnosed at and recruited from outpatient cancer clinics. Results Participants were mostly female (68.57%), White, non-Hispanic (85.71%), unemployed due to disability (57.14%), and rural residents (54.29%). Across time, 43.76% of participants achieved 50% smoking reduction, 21.88% achieved 3-day floating abstinence, 18.75% achieved 7-day floating abstinence, and 12.50% achieved 30-day point-prevalence abstinence. Key themes that emerged from the interviews centered on intention and confidence to quit and types of tobacco treatment used/received. Conclusions This study with cancer patients who desired to quit smoking without assistance found some evidence of quit success, but success waned as criteria grew more stringent. Results showed participants' initial intention to quit unassisted was quite strong, as few reported tobacco treatment use. Interventions to increase the uptake of evidence-based tobacco treatment among cancer patients are sorely needed. Implications The preference to quit smoking without assistance is common among cancer patients, even given lack of evidence supporting its effectiveness. This study is the first to explore the trajectory of smoking cessation outcomes among cancer patients who desire to quit without assistance. These data can be used to develop interventions to increase the uptake of tobacco treatment and increase quit success among cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: For cancer survivors, social functioning greatly influences other quality of life dimensions. While there is potential for differences in social functioning to vary as a function of geographic residence, few studies examine the social functioning of rural cancer survivors specifically. This study aims to help fill this gap. Methods: This was an embedded mixed‐methods study where all participants completed a questionnaire, and some were purposively selected to complete an interview to gather more information about social functioning (ie, social roles, activities, network, support, and constraint). Participants (n = 93; 63% rural) were recruited through a state cancer registry and cancer care facility. Participants were predominately White, non‐Hispanic (92.47%), roughly half female (54.84%), and on average, diagnosed in the past two years (SD = 1.68), and 61.45 (SD = 10.87) years old. Findings: Few differences in the social functioning of rural and nonrural participants were found on questionnaires, though rural participants reported larger networks and more overall support. Across groups, common themes in the interview data were the experience of both social support (eg, instrumental support) and social constraint (eg, others minimizing participants' problems or sharing their own negative experiences). Conclusions: This was the first cancer survivorship study to thoroughly examine social functioning by geographic residence. Rural cancer survivors described some unique strengths, but major group differences were not apparent. All participants highlighted situations when others, even with good intentions, were unhelpful to them. Future interventions to improve social functioning could work to dispel the belief that cancer survivors should handle their cancer on their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Theoretically, a cancer diagnosis has the potential to spur health behavior changes in physical activity, diet, substance use, medication adherence, and the like. The Teachable Moment heuristic is a parsimonious, transtheoretical framework for understanding the conditions under which behavior change might occur, with constructs that include affective, cognitive, and social factors. Application of the Teachable Moment to smoking cessation after cancer diagnosis might aid selection of predictors in observational studies and inform how to optimally design interventions to promote quit attempts and sustain abstinence, as many smoking cessation interventions for cancer survivors do not yield positive outcomes.Aims and Methods: This scoping review of 47 studies that span nearly 20 years of literature examines the measurement of the Teachable Moment constructs and what empirical support they have in explaining cancer survivors' smoking behavior.Results: From this review, it appears the construct of affective response is more widely explored than risk perceptions, social role, and self-concept. Strong, negative affective responses (e.g., anxiety, general distress) may be a powerful contributor to continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis. Risk perceptions may also play a role in smoking behavior, such that never and former smokers espouse stronger perceptions of smoking-related risks than current smokers. Finally, due to a paucity of studies, the role of cancer survivors' self-concept (e.g., identity as a "cancer survivor") and changes in their social role (e.g., employee, athlete) are unclear contributors to their smoking behavior. In summary, the Teachable Moment holds promise in its application to smoking cessation after a cancer diagnosis, though more direct research is needed.Conclusions: This scoping review of the scientific literature is the first formal test of the extent to which cancer diagnosis has been explored as a "teachable moment" for smoking cessation, with results that provide insight into issues of measurement precision and breadth as well as empirical support of the "teachable moment" heuristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Cervical cancer survivors (CCS) tend to smoke cigarettes at rates much higher than other cancer survivors and women in the general population. However, few studies take a deep dive into the smoking behavior of cervical cancer survivors and none focus on the barriers they experience related to smoking cessation. This study aimed to describe CCS' tobacco use characteristics, quit attempts, and barriers to quit success.Method: In a concurrent mixed-method design, 50 CCS (94% White nonHispanic) who were diagnosed in the past 5 years and were current smokers at diagnosis provided data via standardized questionnaire and semi-structured interview.Results: More than three-quarters of participants were current smokers at the time of study participation, 25.6% of whom also reported noncigarette tobacco use (e.g., electronic cigarette, cigar, snus). Seventy percent of participants reported making at least one 24 hr quit attempt postdiagnosis, with 61.5% of current smokers preferring to quit without professional advice or counseling and 51.3% preferring to quit without medication assistance. Four themes emerged regarding barriers to smoking cessation: motivation and readiness; confidence and uncertainty; triggers; and social and environmental factors.Conclusions: The rate of smoking in CCS is remarkably high, which may partly be explained by negative attitudes toward and low use of evidence-based treatment as well as multi-level barriers to smoking cessation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prevalence of smoking among cervical cancer survivors typically exceeds what is found among women in the general population and other cancer survivors. Yet, there is a dearth of literature on risk and protective factors related to smoking among cervical cancer survivors, especially when it comes to identification of variables that are amendable to intervention. To help fill this gap in the literature, this qualitative study examines the nature of smoking-related causal attributions and risk perceptions in cervical cancer survivors who smoked at cancer diagnosis.Methods: Participants are 21 female cervical cancer survivors (M=45.7, SD=8.4 years old), all diagnosed in the past five years. Nearly three-quarters of participants reported smoking in the past month.Results: Smoking was not uniformly recognized as a cause of cervical cancer (whether in general or participants' own cancer); the link between smoking and lung, head-neck, and other cancers was more readily accepted. Despite generally weak endorsements of causal attributions, many participants reported smoking significantly increases risk for poor clinical (e.g., recurrence) and quality of life (e.g., pain) outcomes after cervical cancer diagnosis.Conclusions: Findings suggest cervical cancer survivors may not fully understand or appreciate the role of smoking in cervical cancer risk whereas their beliefs about the role of smoking in cervical cancer prognosis are more well-formed. This study highlights the potential role of causal attributions and risk perceptions in understanding and addressing the smoking-related experience of cervical cancer survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]