Informal caregiving in head and neck cancer: caregiving activities and psychological well-being.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the general cancer support activities that long-term carers of head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors engage in; and the relationships between these care activities and psychological well-being. Respondents answered a survey detailing their caring activities, the amount of time that they spent on those activities and how comfortable they felt engaging in them. Psychological well-being was assessed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. A total of 197 carers took part in the study. The majority (76%) were women, mean age 57.4. Mean time since diagnosis was 6.2 years. In the past month, 45% of carers did not spend any extra time per week helping their relative/friend with general caring activities such as cleaning the house; 31% spent 1-19 hr/week and 23% spent 20 or more hours/week doing so. Most carers were comfortable assisting their relative/friend, though more carers felt uncomfortable assisting with HNC-specific support tasks (31% uncomfortable helping with medication) compared with general support tasks (7% uncomfortable helping with appointments). Feeling uncomfortable with head and neck-specific care tasks was a significant predictor of experiencing depression and anxiety.

Social networks, social support and social negativity: A qualitative study of head and neck cancer caregivers' experiences.

Head and neck cancer is a serious form of cancer that can generate substantial physical and psychosocial morbidity. Informal caregivers can help patients to manage head and neck cancer and its emotional impacts, both during and after treatment. Caregivers, however, can experience considerable stress as a result of their caring activities. Supportive relationships can protect caregivers from psychosocial strain. Thirty-one head and neck cancer caregivers were interviewed about their experiences of accessing social support from their social networks; difficulties that they experienced accessing this support; and strategies that they used to address these difficulties. Results suggest that head and neck cancer caregivers strongly value social support, but can find it difficult to obtain, and a number of them experience socially negative responses from their networks. Some carers attempt to answer or supplement support deficiencies by turning to non-human coping supports, such as pets, spiritual figures or medication. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Young adults' preferred options for receiving chlamydia screening test results: a cross-sectional survey of 6085 young adults.

We investigated how young adults aged 18-29 years would like to be notified of chlamydia screening test results, and, when they test positive, their willingness and preferred mechanism for informing their partners. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 6085 young adults and found that a call to their mobile phone was their preferred way of receiving positive test results (selected by 50%), followed by email. Text messages (short message service [SMS]) and calls to landline phones were unpopular options, selected by between 5 and 10%. Over 75% of respondents stated they would inform their current partner of a positive chlamydia diagnosis, and 50% would inform their previous partners. Most were willing to receive yearly reminders to go for a chlamydia test. Young adults preference for being informed of chlamydia test results by mobile phone call, rather than by email or SMS text, especially if they test positive, suggests they place high value on the security of the communication mechanism. Offering a range of mechanisms for receipt of test results may increase the acceptability and coverage of sexually transmitted infection (STI) control strategies.

Possible evidence for a fall in the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder with age?

A survey was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder (HFPDD) in a community sample of teenagers and adults aged 13 and above in the city of Sheffield, UK. 112 possible and definite cases were found, of whom 65 (57%) had a previous diagnosis. The detected prevalence of possible or definite HFPDD was found to be 0.24 per 1000 of the population of Sheffield city aged 13 or over, but the prevalence by year of age fell from a maximum of 1.1 per 1000 in the group aged 13 to 14 years old (1 young adult in every 900 in this age group) to 0.03 per 1000 in the over 60s (1 person in every 38500 in this age group). The results of this study are preliminary and need follow-up investigation in larger studies. We suggest several explanations for the findings, including reduced willingness to participate in a study as people get older, increased ascertainment in younger people, and increased mortality. Another contributory factor might be that the prevalence of high-functioning pervasive development disorder may decline with age. This raises the possibility that AS symptoms might become subclinical in adulthood in a proportion of people with HFPDD.