The role of the psychologist in the preparation of young children for radiotherapy: short review.

Psychooncology is now recognized as an important part of the holistic approach to therapy of very young cancer patients. When the psychologist is included in a multidisciplinary team, his/her duty is to prepare the child for several procedures he/she is scheduled for. If the very young child has to be treated by radiotherapy, adequate preparation of the child before the start of radiotherapy may enable the child to undergo the whole procedure without sedation or repeated anesthesia. Such practice has started in Serbia in 2002, at the Department of Pediatric Oncology of the Institute for Radiology and Oncology of Serbia, Belgrade. In this article, we discuss the model we currently use, and we present how this approach has been successfully applied in a 5-year-old girl treated by radiotherapy.

Psychological aspects of the cancer patients' education: thoughts, feelings, behavior and body reactions of patients faced with diagnosis of cancer.

PURPOSE: In order to assess the impact of cancer diagnosis on several psychological dimensions, this study was undertaken with the aim to understand, identify and document the psychological responses of cancer patients - their common thoughts, feelings, body sensations and behavior when they faced the cancer diagnosis. METHODS: The sample consisted of 80 patients who attended psychological lectures during the implementation of the European Educational Programme (EEP) "Learning to live with cancer". At the beginning of the lectures, the patients were asked to fulfill the self-describing questionnaire with 4 open questions: "Describe your common thoughts, feelings, behavior, and body reactions in the first 6 weeks when you learned that you were affected by cancer". RESULTS: A significant proportion of patients reported disease denial (65%) and reexamination in relation to past life experiences, stressful events and bad habits (60%). Depressive feelings and disappointment were reported by 90% of the patients, while 85% of them reported fear, hopelessness and emptiness. They also reported sadness (70%), anger and anxiety (65%), nervousness and irritability (90%). Positive thoughts and attitude in the sense of optimism concerning a successful treatment outcome were reported by 20% and 15% of patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of cancer and cancer treatment can cause distress, emotional turmoil and different psychosocial disorders. Taking into consideration different psychological reactions of cancer patients can be helpful for organizing adequate psycho-educational and psychosocial support, and psychotherapy for cancer patients and their families.