Optimism, social support, and adjustment in African American women with breast cancer.

Past studies show that optimism and social support are associated with better adjustment following breast cancer treatment. Most studies have examined these relationships in predominantly non-Hispanic White samples. The present study included 77 African American women treated for nonmetastatic breast cancer. Women completed measures of optimism, social support, and adjustment within 10-months of surgical treatment. In contrast to past studies, social support did not mediate the relationship between optimism and adjustment in this sample. Instead, social support was a moderator of the optimism-adjustment relationship, as it buffered the negative impact of low optimism on psychological distress, well-being, and psychosocial functioning. Women with high levels of social support experienced better adjustment even when optimism was low. In contrast, among women with high levels of optimism, increasing social support did not provide an added benefit. These data suggest that perceived social support is an important resource for women with low optimism.

Supervising the supervisors: a case-based group forum for faculty development.

OBJECTIVE: Faculty development has increasingly become a focus in medical education. Many models are employed around the United States. The authors present a group model process developed to train new educators to teach our medical students. METHODS: The authors met monthly with a diverse faculty over the past 4 years and interacted in a nonhierarchal manner. The authors reviewed the literature, supervised one another, and developed a participatory method of solving educational and administrative problems. RESULTS: What emerged was a "case-based," collaborative group format to develop an educational philosophy, address challenging supervisory problems, develop tangible educational materials and "products," and promote academic careers. CONCLUSION: The authors propose this model for faculty development.

Gender bias in the diagnosis of a geriatric standardized patient: a potential confounding variable.

BACKGROUND: Gender bias has been reported in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with a variety of illnesses. In the context of our 10-station fourth year Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation, we queried whether this could influence diagnosis in a geriatric case. Case writers hypothesized that, due to this bias, the female standardized patient may be diagnosed with depression more often than the male. METHOD: A male or female geriatric standardized patient protrayed a dysphoric widow with mild cognitive impairment. Students examined the patient and documented the clinical encounter and their differential diagnosis. RESULTS: Major depression was diagnosed in 93/107 female standardized patient encounters compared with 58/78 male exams, with the female students contributing most to this difference. DISCUSSION: The potential for gender bias in medical care and in education remains a concern. We need to be mindful of this when designing clinical skills assessments.

Standardized versus open-ended assessment of psychosocial and medical concerns among African American breast cancer patients.

Standardized quality of life measures have been developed and used primarily with Caucasian and middle-class cancer patients. This study assessed the ability of several widely used standardized measures to capture the concerns and problems of 89 African American breast cancer patients. Concerns and problems were assessed using both an open-ended format and standardized measures. The degree of overlap in responses from these two formats was examined. The most frequently reported problems in the open-ended format included physical (43%), financial (40%), and worry about others (30%). Overall, standardized measures had significant overlap with open-ended concerns and problems. The Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System-Short Form subscales/items were associated with corresponding open-ended physical, financial, and social problems (R2 change = 0.07-0.16, p's < or = 0.02), the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-Short Form was associated with open-ended social problems (R2 change = 0.11, p = 0.004), and the Mental Health Inventory was associated with open-ended psychological distress problems (R2 change = 0.08, p = 0.01). One category of open-ended problems, worry about others, was not captured by standardized measures. With the exception of associations between open-ended physical problems and psychological distress measures, there were few significant correlations between standardized measures and dissimilar problem categories. These findings suggest that the standardized measures in this study reflected the concerns and problems of African American breast cancer patients. Additional studies are needed to evaluate the utility of other widely used standardized measures that have not been developed or standardized among non-white samples.

Psychological adjustment among African American breast cancer patients: one-year follow-up results of a randomized psychoeducational group intervention.

The effectiveness of support group interventions for cancer patients has been established among White patients but has been virtually unstudied among minority patients. The current study represents the 1st randomized support group intervention targeted to African American women with breast cancer. Participants (N = 73) with nonmetastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to an 8-week group intervention or an assessment-only control condition At 12 months, the intervention resulted in improved mood as well as improved general and cancer-specific psychological functioning among women with greater baseline distress or lower income. Subsequent research is needed to address effective methods of enrolling and following women with fewer psychosocial and financial resources, as they were the most likely to benefit from this particular intervention.

Treatment regimen, sexual attractiveness concerns and psychological adjustment among African American breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Among a sample of African American women recently diagnosed with breast cancer, we assessed the consequences of different treatment regimens on sexual attractiveness concerns, and the impact of sexual attractiveness concerns on current and subsequent psychological adjustment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The sample included 91 African American women with breast cancer; 90% had Stage I or II disease, 48% had chemotherapy, 47% had a lumpectomy, and 53% received a mastectomy. Feelings of sexual attractiveness and psychological adjustment were assessed an average of 3 months following surgery and again 4 months post-baseline. RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed that chemotherapy was associated with greater concerns about sexual attractiveness among lumpectomy patients (p<0.05), but not among mastectomy patients (p>0.20). The interaction also suggested that chemotherapy equalized the impact of types of surgery, as there was no difference on sexual attractiveness between surgery groups among women who had received chemotherapy (p>0.20). However, among women who had not received chemotherapy, mastectomy patients reported greater sexual attractiveness concerns (p<0.01). Finally, regression analyses revealed that feelings of sexual attractiveness were an important component of psychological well-being, both cross-sectionally (p<0.001) and longitudinally (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Assessment of the combined impact of different treatment regimens on feelings of sexual attractiveness is particularly important given the current consensus that all breast cancer patients should receive chemotherapy, regardless of nodal status. Further, concerns about sexual attractiveness should be considered for inclusion as one component of psychosocial support programs for African American women with breast cancer, as our results suggested that they played a significant role in psychological adjustment.