Development and preliminary validation of Cancer-related Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire.

The Cancer-related Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (CPFQ) was developed and validated for assessing cancer patients' psychological flexibility, including attitudes and behavior toward cancer. In a systematic process, the CPFQ identified four factors through principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis: Cancer Acceptance, Cancer Avoidance, Activity Engagement, and Valued Action. The results of this study reveal that the CPFQ has a clear factor structure and good psychometric properties. The specific nature of cancer and the need for a specific measure of cancer patient psychological flexibility make this questionnaire valuable for research on psychological flexibility in cancer patients.

Chinese Version of the Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale for Cancer Patients Reporting Chronic Pain.

BACKGROUND: Cancer-related chronic pain is reported by many patients during treatment. There are very few Chinese tools for measuring psychological inflexibility caused by cancer pain, particularly with regard to psychological processes that might influence pain severity and function disorder during cancer treatment. OBJECTIVE: To culturally adapt the Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale (PIPS) to Chinese cancer patients experiencing chronic pain, including the determination of psychometric properties of the translated PIPS. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 2 phases: (1) translation and cultural adaptation and (2) determination of psychometric properties of the translated PIPS. In total, 389 cancer patients with several types of cancer experiencing chronic pain enrolled from May to September 2018 at a tertiary cancer hospital in Yuelu District of Hunan Province, China. RESULTS: The Chinese PIPS version was semantically equivalent to the original. It had a 2-factor structure with satisfactory content validity (content validity index = 0.78-1.00), convergent and discriminant validity (composite reliability and average variance extracted at 0.41-0.89, P < .001), criterion-related validity (r = 0.54 and 0.41, P < .001), Cronbach's α coefficients (α = .87), and test-retest reliability (0.9 ≤ r ≤ 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese PIPS version has been culturally adapted and has strong psychometric properties. The scale is a psychometrically sound assessment of psychological inflexibility that can be used for future studies of pain and pain management for cancer patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The study provides a vital tool for the psychological management of cancer patients with chronic pain.

The association between mean platelet volume and chronic atrial fibrillation and the presence of thrombotic events.

Mean platelet volume (MPV), a marker of platelet activation, is a surrogate marker of platelet function and a potential mediator of the association between inflammation and thrombosis. The present retrospective study sought to investigate the association between MPV and the presence of thrombotic events (TEs) in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF). A total of 114 consecutive patients with chronic AF were enrolled from a Chinese hospital. Individuals were divided into three groups: The AF+TE group (n=57, 33.1%), which comprised patients in AF with concomitant TEs; the AF group (n=57, 33.1%), which comprised patients in AF with no identifiable TEs, as confirmed by brain computed tomography, transesophageal echocardiography, or a combination of the two; and a control group (n=58, 33.7%), which consisted of patients who were in sinus rhythm. MPV, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), D-dimer and the left atrial diameter (LAD) were analyzed in the 172 participants. The MPV level of patients in the AF+TE group was significantly higher than that of patients in the AF and control groups (P<0.05). In the correlation analysis, MPV levels were found to be positively correlated with LAD, D-dimer concentrations and hsCRP levels in patients with AF (r=0.960, P<0.05; r=0.896, P<0.05; and r=0.924, P<0.01, respectively). In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the value for MPV levels required to detect TEs with a sensitivity of 77.5% and specificity of 78% was 10.5 femtoliter (fl). A high MPV level (>10.5 fl) was significantly associated with the occurrence of TEs (odds ratio, 3:1; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-5.1; P=0.000). The results of the present study suggest that an additional biomarker, MPV, has a predictive value for the presence of TEs in patients with AF. MPV may be a potential mediator between inflammation and thrombosis.