After the treatment finishes then what? (Dr Peter Harvey)
29 Further reading and references
‘Patient-focussed’ reading
Find the right heading for this is difficult because you you are not really a patient any more, but as we saw earlier, the use of the word survivor has its own problems. The distinction between this section and the one below is not meant to suggest a hierarchy. Rather it distinguishes those materials that are often written by people who have gone through the the whole process or who have written texts in a style often more accessible that the rather high-flown language demanded of academic publishing.
In his excellent collection of personal writings Untold Stories, Alan Bennett describes his brush with cancer in a characteristically witty piece entitled ‘An average rock bun’. This is well worth a read, not only for the quality of the writing (no surprise there!) but also for the observations and comments.
Bennett, A. (2006). Untold stories. London: Faber & Faber.
There are many memoirs of cancer and its treatment and it’s impossible to give a fair and unbiased opinion of them all. You may well have found some useful that are not listed here.
Carr, K. (2004). It's not like that actually. London: Vermillion.
Dalnow, S., Golding, V. & Wright, J. (2001). 44½ choices you can make if you have cancer. Dublin: Newleaf.
Dunn, N. (2002). Cancer Tales. Charlbury: Amber Lane Press.
One of the academic authors listed later has jointly authored a paperback subtitled ‘The essential handbook to life after cancer’
Feuerstein, M. & Findley, P. (2006). The cancer survivor’s guide. New York: Marlowe & Company.
This has some very helpful ideas although some of the information is only relevant to the USA.
Although primarily written for health care professionals, there are some chapters in James Brennan’s book which are very helpful. His writing style is easy and accessible as well as being very well backed up by psychological theories and ideas. The first three chapters are particularly relevant:
Brennan, J. (2004). Cancer in context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
We have already noted the development of the survivorship movement in the USA and one useful resource is the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship whose website is
http://www.canceradvocacy.org/
Clinical, academic and research reading
The academic papers referred to in the text are listed later. This section is a very selective dip into what is becoming a more active research field.
Life after treatment is being acknowledged as an important clinical and research area. For example, in the 2006 report of the American Cancer Society, Cancer Survivorship was the second of their Clinical Cancer Advances. A recent editorial in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Oncology identified the importance of developing consensus guidelines for cancer survivors. Both these US-based initiatives reflect how much this issue has taken root there. A very weighty (506 pages - although a shorter version is available!) book was published by the US Institute of Medicine and National Research Council in 2006 entitled From cancer patient to cancer survivor - lost in transition. This aims to map out a properly constructed care pathway for cancer survivors.
Institute of Medicine & National Research Council. (2006). From cancer patient to cancer survivor - lost in transition. Washington:National Academies Press.
A briefer summary and review of the symposium associated with this initiative has also been published under the same title:
Hewitt, M. & Ganz, P. (Eds.).(2006). From cancer patient to cancer survivor - lost in transition. Washington:National Academies Press.
An equally weighty volume - more of a book for professionals - summarizes much of the current research in this area with a strong psychosocial bias. Edited by Michael Feuerstein a clinical psychologist who has survived cancer, it comprises 26 chapters on a variety of important topics.
Feuerstein, M. (Ed.). (2007). Handbook of cancer survivorship. New York:Springer
References
There are many sources of statistical information about cancer. the figures quoted here come from the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) who publish such data regularly
Their website is:
The actual data quoted came from an ONS press release dated 21 August 2007:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/can0807.pdf
Another very good source of summary statistics for the UK can be found on the Cancer Research UK website in the CancerStats section:
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org
The figures for the USA are taken from
Ozols, R. F., Herbst, R. S., Colson, Y. L., et al. (2007). Clinical cancer advances 2006: major research advances in cancer treatment, prevention and screening - a report from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 25, 146-162.
‘Adjustment’
James Brennan’s book is noted above. His earlier paper (again very readable and accessible) is
Brennan, J. (2001). Adjustment to cancer - coping or personal transition. Psycho-oncology, 10, 1-18.
Bower, J. E., Ganz, P. A., Desmond, K.A., Bernaards, C., Rowland, J.H., Meyerowitz, B. E. & Belin, T. R. (2006). Fatigue in long-term breast carcinoma survivors. Cancer, 106, 751-758.
Gielissen, M. F. M., Verhagen, S., Witjes, F. & Bleijenberg, G. (2006). Effects of cognitive behaviour therapy in severely fatigued isease-free cancer patients compared with patients waiting for cognitive behaviour therapy: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24, 4882-4887.
Prue, G., Rankin, J., Allen, J., Gracey, J. & Cramp, F. (2006). Cancer-related fatigue: a critical appraisal. European Journal of Cancer, 42, 846-863.
van Weert, E., Hoekstra-Weebers, J. E. H. M., May, A. M., Korstjens, I., Ros, W. J. G. & van der Schans, C. P. (2008). The development of and evidence-based physical self-management rehabilitation programme for cancer survivors. Patient Education and Counselling, 71, 169-190.
Han, R., Yang, Y. M., Dietrich, J., Luebke, A., Mayer-Pröschel & Noble, M. (2008). Systemic 5-fluorouracil treatment causes a syndrome of delayed myelin destruction in the central nervous system. Journal of Biology, 7:12.
Hermelink, K., Untch, M., Lux, M. P., Krelenberg, R., Beck, T., Bauerfeind, I. & Münzel, K. (2007). Cognitive function during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Cancer, 109, 1905-1913.
Mehnert, A., Scherwath, A., Schirmer, L., Schleimer, B., Petersen, C., Schulz-Kindermann, F., Zander, A. R. & Koch, U. (2007). The association between neuropsychological impairment, self-perceived cognitive deficits, fatigue and health related quality of life in breast cancer survivors following standard adjuvant versus high dose chemotherapy. Patient Education and Counselling, 66, 108-116.
Stewart, A., Bielajew, C., Collins, B., Parkinson, M & Tomiak, E. (2006). A meta-analysis of the neuropsychological effects of adjuvant chemotherapy treatment in women treated for breast cancer. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 20, 76-89.
Resilience, Benefit-finding and Post-traumatic growth
Two useful starting points are
Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma and human resilience. American Psychologist, 59, 20-28.
Seligman, M. E. P., Rashid,, T. & Parks, A. C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 61, 774-788.
For good critical reviews see
Hegelson, V. S., Reynolds, K. A. & Tomich, P. L., (2006). A meta-analytic review of benefit-finding and growth. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 74, 797-816.
Linley, P. A. & Joseph, S. (2004). Positive change following trauma and adversity: a review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17, 11-21.
Two examples specific to breast cancer illustrate some of the complexities of resaerch in this area:
Cordova, M. J., Giese-Davis, J., Golant, M., Kronwetter, C., Chang, V & Spiegel, D. (2007). Breast cancer as trauma: posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 14, 308-319.
Lechner, S. C., Carver, C. S., Antoni, M. H., Weaver, K. E. & Phillips, K. M. (2006). Curvilinear associations between benefit finding and psychosocial adjustment to breast cancer. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 74, 828-840.
Psychological interventions and survival
There are a number of papers in this area. The two early studies quoted in the section on 'positive thinking' are:
Spiegel, D., Bloom, J. R., Kraemer, H. C. & Gottheil, E. (1989) Effect of psychosocial treatment on survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Lancet, II, 888-891.
Greer, S., Morris, T., & Pettingale, K. W. (1979) Psychological response to breast cancer: effect on outcome. Lancet, II, 785-787.
There have been a number of studies and reviews which have either tried to confirm these findings and have failed or have looked at all the studies and found no impact on survival:
Coyne, J. C., Stefanek, M. & Palmer, S. (2007). Psychotherapy and survival in cancer: the conflict between hope and evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 367-394.
Dalton, S. O., Boesen, E. H., Ross, L., Schapiro, I.R. & Johansen, C. (2002). Mind and cancer: do psychological factors cause cancer? European Journal of Cancer, 38, 1313-1323.
Garssen, B. (2004). Psychological factors and cancer development: evidence after 30 years research. Clinical Psychology Review, 24, 315-338.
Goodwin, P. J., Leszcz, M., Enns, M., et al. (2001). The effect of group psychosocial support on survival in metastatic breast cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 345, 1719-1726.
Petticrew, M., Bell, R. & Hunter, D. (2002). Influence of psychological coping on survival and recurrence in people with cancer: systematic review. British Medical Journal, 325, 1066-1075.
Ross, L., Boesen, E. H., Dalton, S. O. & Johansen, C. (2002). Mind and cancer: does psychosocial intervention improve survival and psychological well-being? European Journal of Cancer, 38, 1447-1457.
Spiegel, D. (2002). Effects of psychotherapy on cancer survival. Nature Reviews Cancer, 2, 1-7.
Watson, M., Homewood, J., Haviland, J. & Bliss, J. M. (2005). Influence of psychological response on breast cancer survival: 10-year follow-up of population-based cohort. European Journal of Cancer, 41, 1710-1714.
There are a number of reviews looking at the more general impact of psychological interventions for people with cancer:
Andersen, B. (2002). Biobehavioural outcomes following psychological interventions for cancer patients. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 70, 590-610.
Meyer, T. J. & Mark, M. M. (1995). Effects of psychosocial interventions with adult cancer patients: a meta-analysis of randomised experiments. Health Psychology, 14, 101-108.
Newell, S. A., Sanson-Fisher, R. W. & Salvolainen, N. J. (2002). Systematic review of psychological therapies for cancer patients: overview and recommendations for future research. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 94, 558-584.
Owen, J. E., Klapow, J. C., Hicken, B. & Tucker, D. C. (2001). Psychosocial interventions for cancer: a review and analysis using a three-tiered outcome model. Psycho-Oncology, 10, 218-230.
Hodgkison, P. E. & Stewart, M. (1998). Coping with Catastrophe: A Handbook of Post-disaster Psychological Aftercare (2nd Ed). London:Routledge.
The Cancer Counselling Trust has now closed.
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