Loneliness in Pre and Post-operative Cancer Patients: A Mini Review
Abstract
This review explored the experience of hospitalization and the experience of cancer patients who were undergoing Ear Nose and Throat [ENT] surgery. Hospitals, which were designed with treatment and healing in mind, are known to be the source of uncontrollable noise, physicians who talk in a language that patients do not understand. Entering the hospital as a patient, one becomes part of that very complex system, which may include being treated as a ‘nonperson,’ not getting enough information, and losing control of daily activities. Hospitalized patients’ social contact is limited to interaction with the medical staff which thus become a key factor in determining the quality of care, and whether the patients can successfully cope with the stress of their hospitalization experience.
Loneliness was found to be associated with a range of negative physical health outcomes such as dementia, increased blood pressure, suicidal thinking and unhealthy and damaging behaviors such as smoking, excess alcohol consumption and lack of exercise leading and contributing to increased mortality. Being, both, hospitalized and in the midst of a frightening illness they experience loneliness and isolation.Keywords
References
Covinsky, Kenneth E., Robert M. Palmer, Richard H. Fortinsky, Steven R. Counsell, Anita L. Stewart, Denise Kresevic, Christopher J. Burant, and C. Seth Landefeld. “Loss of Independence in Activities of Daily Living in Older Adults Hospitalized with Medical Illnesses: Increased Vulnerability with Age.” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 51, no. 4 (April 2003): 451–458. doi:10.1046/j.1532-5415.2003.51152.x.
Rollins, Judy A. "Evidence-based hospital design improves health care outcomes for patients, families, and staff." Pediatric nursing 30, no. 4 (2004): 338-340.
Hughes, Brian M. “Psychology, Hospitalization and Some Thoughts on Medical Training.” European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling 4, no. 1 (April 2, 2001): 7–26. doi:10.1080/13642530110040109.
Sellick, Scott M., and Alan D. Edwardson. “Screening New Cancer Patients for Psychological Distress Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.” Psycho-Oncology 16, no. 6 (2007): 534–542. doi:10.1002/pon.1085.
Meredeth A. Rowe “The Impact of Internal and External Resources on Functional Outcomes in Chronic Illness.” Research in Nursing & Health 19, no. 6 (1996): 485- 497. doi:10.1002/(sici)1098-240x(199612)19:6<485::aid-nur4>3.0.co;2-k.
Mishel, Merle H. “Uncertainty in Chronic Illness.” Annual Review of Nursing Research 17, no. 1 (January 1999): 269–294. doi:10.1891/0739-6686.17.1.269.
Raps, Charles S., Christopher Peterson, Maritza Jonas, and Martin E. Seligman. “Patient Behavior in Hospitals: Helplessness, Reactance, or Both?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 42, no. 6 (1982): 1036–1041. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.42.6.1036.
Rokach, Ami, and AMi ShA'kEd. Together and lonely: Loneliness in intimate relationships—Causes and coping. Nova Science Publishers, 2013.
Attree, Moira. “Patients' and relatives' experiences and perspectives of 'Good' and 'Not so Good' quality care” Journal of Advanced Nursing 33, no. 4 (2001): 456–466. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2648.2001.01689.x.
Thomas, L. H. and Bond, S. “Measuring patients' satisfaction with nursing: 1990–1994.” Journal of Advanced Nursing 23, (1996): 747-756. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.1996.tb00047.x.
Cacioppo, John T., Louise C. Hawkley, and Ronald A. Thisted. “Perceived Social Isolation Makes Me Sad: 5-Year Cross-Lagged Analyses of Loneliness and Depressive Symptomatology in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study.” Psychology and Aging 25, no. 2 (2010): 453–463. doi:10.1037/a0017216.
Schröder, Kerstin EE, and Ralf Schwarzer. "Do partners' personality resources add to the prediction of patients' coping and quality of life?." Psychology and health 16, no. 2 (2001): 139-159. doi:10.1080/08870440108405496.
Kiecolt-Glaser, Janice K., Gayle G. Page, Phillip T. Marucha, Robert C. MacCallum, and Ronald Glaser. "Psychological influences on surgical recovery: perspectives from psychoneuroimmunology." American Psychologist 53, no. 11 (1998): 1209.
Rokach, B. & Rokach, A. Medicine, radiology, hospitalization, and loneliness. In A. Rokach, [Editor] Loneliness updated: “Recent research on loneliness and how it affects our life” (2013): 270-283, Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Montgomery, Guy H., and Dana H. Bovbjerg. "Presurgery distress and specific response expectancies predict postsurgery outcomes in surgery patients confronting breast cancer." Health Psychology 23, no. 4 (2004): 381.
Holmberg, Sharon K., and Sharon Coon. “Ambient Sound Levels in a State Psychiatric Hospital.” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 13, no. 3 (June 1999): 117–126. doi:10.1016/s0883-9417(99)80042-9.
Atkinson, Rita L., Richard C. Atkinson, Edward E. Smith, and Daryl J. Bem. Introduction to psychology. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
Topf, Margaret. “Effects of Personal Control over Hospital Noise on Sleep.” Research in Nursing & Health 15, no. 1 (February 1992): 19–28. doi:10.1002/nur.4770150105.
Johnston, Marie Ed, and Louise Ed Wallace. Stress and medical procedures. Oxford University Press, 1990.
Contrada, R. J., E. A. Leventhal, and J. R. Anderson. "Psychological preparation for surgery: Marshaling individual and social resources to optimize self-regulation." International review of health psychology 3 (1994): 219-266.
Cacioppo, John T., and William Patrick. Loneliness: Human nature and the need for social connection. WW Norton & Company, 2008.
Pond, R. S., Joseph Brey, and C. Nathan DeWall. "Denying the need to belong: How social exclusion impairs human functioning and how people can protect against it." Psychology of loneliness (2011): 107-122.
Sagan, O. & Miller, E. D. (Eds.). Narratives of loneliness: Multidisciplinary perspectives from the 21st century. NY: Routledge, (2018).
Shaver, Phillip, and Duane Buhrmester. “Loneliness, Sex-Role Orientation and Group Life: A Social Needs Perspective.” Basic Group Processes (1983): 259–288. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-5578-9_11.
Heinrich, Liesl M., and Eleonora Gullone. “The Clinical Significance of Loneliness: A Literature Review.” Clinical Psychology Review 26, no. 6 (October 2006): 695–718. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2006.04.002.
Mcwhirter, Benedict T. “Loneliness: A Review of Current Literature, With Implications for Counseling and Research.” Journal of Counseling & Development 68, no. 4 (March 4, 1990): 417–422. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.1990.tb02521.x.
Booth, Richard, David Bartlett, and Joel Bohnsack. "An examination of the relationship between happiness, loneliness, and shyness in college students." Journal of College Student Development (1992).
Hawkley, Louise C., Ronald A. Thisted, Christopher M. Masi, and John T. Cacioppo. "Loneliness predicts increased blood pressure: 5-year cross-lagged analyses in middle-aged and older adults." Psychology and aging 25, no. 1 (2010): 132-141.
Riggio, Ronald E., Kristin P. Watring, and Barbara Throckmorton. “Social Skills, Social Support, and Psychosocial Adjustment.” Personality and Individual Differences 15, no. 3 (September 1993): 275–280. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(93)90217-q.
Shankar, Aparna, Anne McMunn, James Banks, and Andrew Steptoe. “Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Behavioral and Biological Health Indicators in Older Adults.” Health Psychology 30, no. 4 (2011): 377–385. doi:10.1037/a0022826.
Wilson, Robert S., Steven E. Arnold, Julie A. Schneider, Yan Li, and David A. Bennett. “Chronic Distress, Age-Related Neuropathology, and Late-Life Dementia.” Psychosomatic Medicine 69, no. 1 (January 2007): 47–53. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000250264.25017.21.
Mellqvist Fässberg, Madeleine, Svante Östling, Arjan W. Braam, Kristoffer Bäckman, John R. M. Copeland, Manfred Fichter, Sirkka-Liisa Kivelä, et al. “Functional Disability and Death Wishes in Older Europeans: Results from the EURODEP Concerted Action.” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 49, no. 9 (February 20, 2014): 1475–1482. doi:10.1007/s00127-014-0840-1.
Kennedy, Susan, Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, and Ronald Glaser. “Immunological Consequences of Acute and Chronic Stressors: Mediating Role of Interpersonal Relationships.” British Journal of Medical Psychology 61, no. 1 (March 1988): 77–85. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.1988.tb02766.x.
Cacioppo, John T., Stephanie Cacioppo, John P. Capitanio, and Steven W. Cole. “The Neuroendocrinology of Social Isolation.” Annual Review of Psychology 66, no. 1 (January 3, 2015): 733–767. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015240.
Brannon, L. & Feist, J. “Health psychology: An introduction to behaviour and health.” Toronto, Canada: Thomson Wadsworth, (2004).
Yarnold, Paul R., Edward A. Michelson, David A. Thompson, and Stephen L. Adams. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 21, no. 6 (1998): 545–563. doi:10.1023/a:1018796628917.
Rokach, Ami, and Brock Heather. "Loneliness: A multidimensional experience." Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior (1997).
Rokach, Ami, and Heather Brock. “Coping With Loneliness.” The Journal of Psychology 132, no. 1 (January 1998): 107–127. doi:10.1080/00223989809599269.
Rokach, Ami, Miguel C. Moya, Tricia Orzeck, and Francisca Exposito. “LONELINESS IN NORTH AMERICA AND SPAIN.” Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal 29, no. 5 (January 1, 2001): 477–489. doi:10.2224/sbp.2001.29.5.477.
Rokach, Ami, and Monika Sharma. "The loneliness experience in a cultural context." Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 11, no. 4 (1996): 827.
Bloom, Joan R., and David Spiegel. “The Relationship of Two Dimensions of Social Support to the Psychological Well-Being and Social Functioning of Women with Advanced Breast Cancer.” Social Science & Medicine 19, no. 8 (January 1984): 831–837. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(84)90400-3.
Sha'ked, Ami, and Ami Rokach. "Loss and Loneliness in Close Relationships." Psychology Journal 11, no. 1 (2014).
Friedman, Gaby, Victor Florian, and Esther Zernitsky-Shurka. “The Experience of Loneliness Among Young Adult Cancer Patients.” Journal of Psychosocial Oncology 7, no. 3 (November 7, 1989): 1–15. doi:10.1300/j077v07n03_01.
Vogel, D. L., Wester, S. R., Heesacker, M., & Madon, S. “Confirming gender stereotypes: A social role perspective. Sex Roles”, 48, no. (11-12) (2003): 519-528. doi:10.1023/a:1023575212526.
Danneel, Sofie, Marlies Maes, Janne Vanhalst, Patricia Bijttebier, and Luc Goossens. “Developmental Change in Loneliness and Attitudes Toward Aloneness in Adolescence.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 47, no. 1 (May 4, 2017): 148–161. doi:10.1007/s10964-017-0685-5.
Maté, Gabor. When the body says no: The cost of hidden stress. Vintage Canada, 2011.
Cacioppo, John T., and Stephanie Cacioppo. “Social Relationships and Health: The Toxic Effects of Perceived Social Isolation.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 8, no. 2 (February 2014): 58–72. doi:10.1111/spc3.12087.
Christ, Grace H., Karolynn Siegel, Barbara Freund, Deborah Langosch, Shelly Hendersen, Diane Sperber, and Lois Weinstein. “Impact of Parental Terminal Cancer on Latency-Age Children.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 63, no. 3 (1993): 417–425. doi:10.1037/h0079451.
DOI: 10.28991/esj-2019-01168
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2019 Ami Rokach
