(Press-News.org) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Men who have dependent children and whose spouses or partners died from cancer are an overlooked population. These fathers face unique challenges not addressed by traditional grief support groups that often attract an older, female population.
Faculty in the UNC Department of Psychiatry report on a successful pilot peer support program called "Single Fathers Due to Cancer" they created to help these men. The program is the first of its kind in the United States.
They describe the program's development so that other institutions may develop similar initiatives and that further studies can be done. The report was published in the April issue of Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.
Donald Rosenstein, MD, director of the UNC Comprehensive Cancer Support Program, and study co-author, says, "The experiences of the current support group illustrate that men in crisis, when given a safe and supportive environment, express deep emotions, establish psychological bonds with other men, and use those connections and encouragement for healing."
Rosenstein is professor in the department of psychiatry, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Support Program, and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The group grew out of the authors' work with young mothers who were dying of cancer and their families. During the counseling sessions mothers expressed concerns about how their husbands and children were coping with their terminal illness and would cope after their death.
Justin Yopp, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and member of the Comprehensive Cancer Support Program, and study co-author, explains, "We looked for resources specifically for surviving husbands, but found none. We held a focus group to get a better understanding of the challenges these fathers faced and whether a support group might help.
"A central theme from this focus group was the feeling of profound aloneness as a parent that extended beyond the loss of a spouse, and the men shared a sense of 'being in this alone' with no viable road map or peers who could understand their struggles."
A model for the support group was developed and a time-limited intervention planned with Drs. Rosenstein and Yopp serving as co-facilitators. Childcare was provided as well as meals since the meetings were held in the early evening to not interrupt bedtimes.
Dr. Yopp adds, "The fathers appreciate the chance to talk with each other and share advice and feedback. The group format offers what neither individual therapy nor talking with family and friends can: a forum to discuss and process their experiences with others who could identify with what they were going through."
The authors suggest several possible areas of study for such groups. They share a "vision that the experiences and information shared will spur the development of peer support groups at other cancer centers and medical facilities."
###
The work was supported, in part, by the University Cancer Research Fund.
Unique group for single fathers due to cancer offers support
2013-04-01
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers find link between blood clotting, immune response
2013-04-01
Rice University researchers have found an unexpected link between a protein that triggers the formation of blood clots and other proteins that are essential for the body's immune system. The find could lead to new treatments for thousands of patients who suffer from inflammatory diseases and disorders that cause abnormal blood clotting.
The research is available online in the journal PLOS ONE.
"This link opens the door for studying severe, debilitating inflammatory disorders where the disease mechanism is still poorly understood, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ...
Early COPD diagnosis possible with nuclear medicine
2013-04-01
Reston, Va. (April 1, 2013) – In vivo ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) imaging can detect early changes to the lung caused by cigarette smoke exposure and provides a noninvasive method for studying lung dysfunction in preclinical models, according to research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. These measures have the potential to be applied clinically to study and diagnose the early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
COPD is a slow-progressing, debilitating lung disease which is commonly caused by cigarette smoking. Defining ...
Hospitals measure up for Medicare reimbursement
2013-04-01
CHICAGO --- For-profit hospitals are out-performing other hospitals when treating stroke, heart attack and pneumonia patients in emergency departments and, thus, will be more likely to receive bonuses under Medicare's new payment rules, according to a new Northwestern Medicine® study.
Though nonprofit and public hospitals are lagging behind in performance, many are making noticeable improvements and also many will be eligible for bonuses, too.
The findings give an early look at how hospitals are measuring up under the new, mandatory Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing ...
Can meditation make you a more compassionate person?
2013-04-01
Scientists have mostly focused on the benefits of meditation for the brain and the body, but a recent study by Northeastern University's David DeSteno, published in Psychological Science, takes a look at what impacts meditation has on interpersonal harmony and compassion.
Several religious traditions have suggested that mediation does just that, but there has been no scientific proof—until now.
In this study, a team of researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University examined the effects meditation would have on compassion and virtuous behavior, and ...
Shedding light on early Parkinson's disease pathology
2013-04-01
Amsterdam, NL, April 1, 2013 – In a mouse model of early Parkinson's disease (PD), animals displayed movement deficits, loss of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH)-positive fibers in the striatum, and astro-gliosis and micro-gliosis in the substantia nigra (SN), without the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons. These findings, which may cast light on the molecular processes involved in the initial stages of PD, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
"The most intriguing finding of our study was the lack of a significant decrease of TH levels ...
Over-diagnosis of reflux in infants leads to needless medication
2013-04-01
Ann Arbor, Mich. — Medications used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, are some of the most widely used medications in children less than one year old.
But in a new study, researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Missouri concluded that physicians often label common symptoms in infants, such as crying and spitting up, as disease. Frequent use of the GERD label can lead to overuse of medication, according to study published today online ahead of print in the journal Pediatrics.
The study found that doctors' use of the label GERD ...
Soils in newly forested areas store substantial carbon that could help offset climate change
2013-04-01
ANN ARBOR—Surface appearances can be so misleading: In most forests, the amount of carbon held in soils is substantially greater than the amount contained in the trees themselves.
If you're a land manager trying to assess the potential of forests to offset carbon emissions and climate change by soaking up atmospheric carbon and storing it, what's going on beneath the surface is critical.
But while scientists can precisely measure and predict the amount of above-ground carbon accumulating in a forest, the details of soil-carbon accounting have been a bit fuzzy.
Two ...
Sorting out the structure of a Parkinson's protein
2013-04-01
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Clumps of proteins that accumulate in brain cells are a hallmark of neurological diseases such as dementia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Over the past several years, there has been much controversy over the structure of one of those proteins, known as alpha synuclein.
MIT computational scientists have now modeled the structure of that protein, most commonly associated with Parkinson's, and found that it can take on either of two proposed states — floppy or rigid. The findings suggest that forcing the protein to switch to the rigid structure, ...
University of Tennessee professor links massive prehistoric bird extinction to human colonization
2013-04-01
Research by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor has found that about a thousand bird species became extinct following human colonization.
Research by Alison Boyer, a research assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology, and an international team studied the extinction rates of nonperching land birds in the Pacific Islands from 700 to 3,500 years ago. Some of the birds studied included birds of prey and ducks. The team uncovered the magnitude of the extinctions and insight into how and why human impacts varied across the region.
The findings are ...
African Americans experience longer delay between prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment
2013-04-01
African American men on average wait a week longer than their Caucasian counterparts between the initial diagnosis of prostate cancer and treatment, according to University of North Carolina researchers.
The study was published online March 28 in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society, by a team led by Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, assistant professor with the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study is the first published population-based examination of racial disparities in prostate cancer treatment delay.
Using data from Medicare patients, Dr. Chen ...