Gonadotoxicity is one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment. Fertility preservation strategies should be included during the treatment pathway to prevent the risk of infertility, but the decision to preserve fertility often represents a challenging process that carries an emotional decision-making burden. The aim of this study is to characterize the psychological profiles of women undergoing fertility preservation counseling and to better understand their features. Eighty-two female cancer patients were included in the study. They were asked to complete a battery of self-administered tests which evaluated socio-demographic characteristics, defense mechanisms, depression, anxiety, and representations regarding the importance of parenthood. Based on the psychometric variables, cluster analysis identified four groups which showed significantly different combinations of these psychological characteristics. An additional analysis was performed to evaluate if sociodemographic variables were associated with the four groups, but the results did not show significant differences. These results suggest that very diverse psychological profiles may lead cancer patients to attend oncofertility counseling and choose fertility preservation. For this reason, all patients in childbearing age should have the opportunity to receive appropriate fertility preservation counseling in order to make an informed decision that could have an important impact on their long-term quality of life.
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.
Breast Neoplasms , Quality of Life , Humans , Female , Quality of Life/psychology , Self Efficacy , Breast Neoplasms/psychology , Surveys and Questionnaires , Reproducibility of Results , Psychometrics/methods , Adaptation, Psychological , Interpersonal Relations
OBJECTIVE: Social relationship coping efficacy (SRCE) is the confidence to engage in behaviors that can maintain or enhance close social relationships in the context of illness. This study focused on psychometric analyses of the SRCE scale and its role in maintaining or enhancing personal relationships, social support, and quality of life (QOL). METHOD: A mixed diagnosis sample (N = 151) of cancer patients completed a variety of measures: physical debilitation, received emotional and instrumental support, SRCE, and QOL. RESULTS: The SRCE scale is a 10-item, one-factor, internally reliable (α = 0.965) measure with strong concurrent validity in relation to measures of social support. SRCE fully mediated the relationship between physical debilitation and both instrumental and emotional received support. SRCE also was directly related to both social/family well-being and psychological distress, and this relationship was also partially mediated by social support. CONCLUSIONS: The results corroborated that SRCE might account for changes in both instrumental and emotional support. Also, the direct and indirect relationship (mediated by social support) of SRCE with both social/family well-being and distress indicated that interventions to increase SRCE with those at risk for social support loss may bolster social support in personal relationships as well as enhance emotional well-being and quality of life.
Mental Health , Quality of Life/psychology , Self Efficacy , Surveys and Questionnaires/standards , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasms/psychology , Psychometrics , Social Support
Play is a natural mode of children's expression and constitutes a fundamental aspect of their life. Cognitive, affective, and social aspects can be assessed through play, considered as a "window" to observe a child's functioning. According to Russ's model, cognitive and affective components and their reciprocal connections can be assessed through the Affect in Play Scale (APS). The aim of the present study was to investigate children's representations of the three main models of disability (medical, social, and biopsychosocial) and how these models affected cognitive and affective components of children's play. Sixty-three children, aged 6-10 years, were assessed by means of the APS. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two APS task orders: the standard APS task followed by the modified APS task (including a wheelchair toy), or vice versa. The standard and modified APS sessions were coded according to the APS system. The modified APS sessions were also coded for the model of disability expressed by children. A one-way ANOVA conducted on the APS affective and cognitive indexes revealed an effect of condition on the affective components of play and no effect on cognitive components and variety of affect as assessed by the APS. In addition, when children are involved in pretend play from which concepts of disability emerge, these concepts are almost exclusively related to the medical model of disability. Results suggested implications for intervention with children in educational contexts that aim to teach children about disability.
