Anxiety and depression during the first year after diagnosis of breast cancer are often the recurrence of previous disorder. In predicting disorder following diagnosis, self-blame and shame are merely markers of previous disorder. Low social support is an independent predictor and therefore may have a causal role.

Objective: Intensive care nurses produce emotional labor through deep acting by generating empathetic emotional and cognitive reactions during their interactions with patients. On the other hand they produce emotional labor through surface acting whereby they forge empathic behaviors towards patients in the absence of appropriate emotional and cognitive actions. The present study explored emotional labor strategies on the basis of empathy among nurses working at intensive care and in-patient units. Methods: The present study was carried out in a state hospital in Istanbul. The sample of the study consisted of 116 nurses. Emotional Labor Scale, the Empathy Scale and a demographic questionnaire were used to gather data. Results: The hypotheses that as compared with in-patient care nurses, the empathy levels of intensive care nurses would be higher; nurses who have high levels of empathy would show higher levels of deep acting and emotional effort than nurses who have medium or low levels of empathy; nurses who have high levels of empathy would show lower levels of surface acting than nurses who have medium or low levels of empathy; and as compared with in-patient care nurses, intensive care nurses would show higher levels of deep acting and emotional effort and lower levels of surface acting, were not supported by the data. Conclusion: The results have shown that intensive-care nurses do not have higher levels of empathy, and they do not use deep acting and emotional effort more than inpatient clinic nurses. These findings indicate that regardless of the characteristics of the working environment, the nurses show empathy and use emotional labor strategies. More research is needed to understand these findings

Research on peer-led support programs in prisons suggests that these programs are beneficial. One such program is the Insiders Scheme. Preliminary reports on its effectiveness suggest that it has a positive impact on prisoners as well as on the Insiders themselves. Nevertheless, there is no detailed information on the ways in which the Insiders perceive their role. Information may help to set targets for training of Insiders. Therefore, in the present qualitative study, focus group meetings were undertaken with all three Insiders in a male prison, using an interview-guide approach to describe the ways in which the Insiders perceived their role. The anonymized transcripts of these meetings were analysed inductively by following established conventions to ground analysis in the data. Insiders evaluated their role in terms of the different aspects of their role, the strategies that they used to help other prisoners, the personal impact of their role, the difficulties that they experienced during the course of their work, and possible ways of improving their role. The present findings contribute to an evidence-base for peer-centred training for the Insiders Scheme and therefore highlight the value of undertaking qualitative research among Insiders to identify specific targets for their training.

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