Patient education using virtual reality increases knowledge and positive experience for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy

In geriatric psychiatry assessment scales are often used in clinical praxis in the diagnostic work-up of mental disorders. To assess whether the state part of the STAI is useful as a case-finding instrument of mental disorders. Data came from 70 non demented geriatric in-patients in stable clinical condition. Mean age was 83.3 years (range 64-96), and 74.3% were women. The 20-item STAI state instrument was used to measure current anxiety symptoms. Without knowledge of the score on STAI state a psychiatrist examined all patients and set diagnosis according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, but hierarchical rules were not used. Sensitivity, specificity, Likelihood ratio and accuracy were calculated for different cut-points of the mean sumscore on the STAI state. 15.7% of the participants suffered from a mental disorder: GAD = 1, mixed anxiety-depression = 5, depression = 1, dysthymic = 1, adjustment disorder (mixed anxiety-depression) = 1, and personality disorder = 1. The mean STAI sumscore in this group was 56.3 compared with 39.2 in the 59 patients without any psychiatric diagnosis. The optimal cut-off score on the STAI mean sumscore corresponding to the highest accuracy of 0.87 was 55/54 with sensitivity 0.82, specificity 0.88, and LR + 6.8. The STAI state scale is a useful instrument for detecting a variety of mental disorders in older people. Further studies should be carried out in different populations. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

While radiotherapy is commonly employed in the treatment of breast cancer, many women know little about treatment and experience treatment related anxiety. The aims of this study were to: Prioritise breast cancer patients' radiotherapy related information needs and concerns; determine unmet information needs; ascertain which information sources patients prefer to receive; and explore whether information provision reduces anxiety and depression. A longitudinal survey was administered at four time points: after initial consultation with radiation oncologist, after the planning appointment, within first week of treatment and after treatment completion. Data was analysed using generalised estimating equations. 123 women participated. Women were most concerned about the impact treatment would have on their health in the future. Women identified high information needs prior to treatment planning and commencing treatment. Women's anxiety at baseline (mean=6.07, SD=3.89) did not significantly drop until after treatment commencement (mean=5.33, SD=4.15). This study demonstrates that women's information needs and anxiety levels are high until treatment commencement. In order to reduce patients' psychological distress, information needs and concerns we recommend that a greater focus is placed on providing information to patients prior to treatment planning and prior to treatment. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Background To test seven different strategies for recruitment in a randomized controlled trial, to report documented response data from each strategy, and to discuss recruitment challenges. Methods We used 5 opt-in (potential participants have to do something active to contact or be contacted by the researcher) and 2 opt-out (potential participants have the option to decline being contacted about a study) recruitment strategies from February 2013 until July 2014 to contact 1562 cancer patient candidates for participation in a randomized controlled trial. For each of these cancer patients a caregiver was also invited to take part in the study. Results Of the 1562 candidates, 22.6 % were ineligible on initial contact, 56.7 % declined to participate on initial contact, and 8.9 % agreed orally to participate but did not complete the enrollment. The 2 opt-out strategies, on-site recruitment and routine care letters recruitment, yielded the highest number of recruited participants with 79 dyads and 58 dyads respectively, constituting 42.7 % and 31.4 % of the total number of enrolled candidates. The 5 opt-in recruitment approaches yielded 49 dyads for the study. Almost half of these dyads were recruited using the approach termed “relying on providers at the hospital.” Conclusions In this study, opt-out recruitment strategies appeared to be the most effective. Trial registration Registration number NCT01867723, registered February 2012. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-015-0948-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.