The present paper is aimed at briefly presenting psychological factors involved in cancer related pain and what psychosocial interventions are efficient in reducing it. Cancer related pain is a complex experience and the most integrative and recommended approach is the biopsychosocial model. It has been proved that chronic pain is more strongly related to psychological factors than to treatment or illness related factors. Psychological factors influencing pain experience can be intuitively grouped starting with awareness of pain (i.e., attentional factor), then with evaluation of pain (i.e., cognitive factors) which is leading to feelings (i.e., emotional factors), and behaviours (i.e., coping strategies) regarding pain. Psychosocial interventions (i.e., skill based and education based interventions) have strong evidence that is effective in reducing cancer related pain.

Background and Aims: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequent form of cancer worldwide, and approximately one third of cases have a positive family history of CRC or associated cancers. Colonoscopy is one of the most effective methods of screening for CRC. Uptake of colonoscopy is suboptimal, and many countries lack a national screening programme. Our study aims at exploring and ranking several factual and psychological variables according to their accuracy in discriminating between screeners and non-screeners for CRC in a convenience sample of people over 50 years of age. Methods: The study included 103 individuals aged over 50 years, recruited from day centres for the elderly. We explored socio-demographic variables, frequency of colonoscopy, previous recommendations for screening, health literacy and family history of cancer. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to establish the discriminative value for each variable between the positive and negative decision for colonoscopy screening. Areas under the curve (AUC) and their equivalent Cohen‘s d values were calculated. Results: Almost a quarter (25.75%) of participants reported previous colonoscopy screening. ROC curve analysis shows that colonoscopy uptake is best discriminated by perceived benefits of screening (AUC=0.71, d=0.78, p<0.001), previous recommendations for screening (AUC=0.68, d=0.69, p<0.001) and previous recommendations for preventive measures (AUC=0.67, d=0.64, p<0.001). Conclusions: Recommendations from healthcare professionals lead to improved colonoscopy uptake when emphasising the benefits of screening. Results can further inform psychosocial interventions by bringing empirical evidence to emphasize screening benefits and explicit recommendations for individuals at risk for CRC cancer.

Genetic counselling services are well established in North America, Western Europe and Australia. In other regions, genetic counselling services are still emerging. Where this is the case, an in-depth understanding of the main stakeholders’ needs, challenges and opportunities will inform the changes and innovations required to bring genetic counselling closer to the community. The present study explored the needs and challenges of patients, family members and professionals with a view to setting up a cancer genetic counselling service in Romania. In order to get a comprehensive outlook, key stakeholders were interviewed using data source triangulation method. Thirty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted (13 patients, 11 family members and 10 professionals). Thematic analysis was used to explore and identify needs, barriers and opportunities in emerging cancer genetic counselling services. Three major themes were identified: (1) the “Needs” theme mainly focuses on various types of support that participants mentioned wanting: psychosocial, peer and additional support; (2) the “Challenges” theme includes aspects related to limited access to healthcare, lack of integrated services and pressure on the families; (3) the “Hopes” theme highlights the wish for integrated healthcare and an empathic rapport with healthcare providers. Our findings highlighted the main needs, challenges and hopes the patients, family members and professionals have and provides the groundwork for setting up cancer genetic counselling services.

Purpose: The study investigates the predictors of caregivers' experienced burden, stigma, and well-being, when looking after family members diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.Design and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 168 caregivers; perceived burden, stigma, well-being, knowledge, illness perception, and medical variables were assessed.Findings: A number of correlates of burden, stigma, and well-being have been identified and are being discussed. The integrative predictive model showed that the caregiver's emotional representation of illness best predicts burden (β = 0.38, p < 0.001), stigma (β = 0.53, p < 0.001) and well-being (β = −0.36, p < 0.001).

"Background: Chemotherapy still represents the backbone of systemic treatment for many solid tumors. Alopecia remains one of its most distressing side effects. Scalp cooling is an effective strategy to reduce the risk of alopecia induced by chemotherapy, therefore this study aimed to assess the efficiency of DigniCap scalp-cooling system in our center. Material&Methods: 113 patients diagnosed with solid tumors, who underwent chemotherapy using the DigniCap scalp-cooling system in our center between January 2018 - December 2020, were included in the study. Alopecia was evaluated by the physician according to Dean’s scale at baseline and after the last cycle of chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was to evaluate scalp-cooling efficiency defined by a Dean's scale score of 0–2 (hair loss ≤50%). Results: 78 (72.3%) out of the 113 patients who used scalp cooling presented hair loss of 50% or less, the majority were females (91.2%) and had a diagnosis of breast cancer (49.6%) or gynecological cancer (27.4%). The mean number of chemotherapy cycles using DigniCap was 4.82 cycles. Hair loss greater than 50% of the scalp surface was observed in 27.7% of patients, the highest grade of alopecia being observed for anthracycline-based chemotherapy. No serious adverse events were reported. Conclusion: The results of this study support the evidence existing so far in the literature. Among patients who underwent chemotherapy for various cancer types, the DigniCap System significantly prevented hair loss and we consider that it should be integrated in the supportive care of patients."