Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979
Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, & MFT!!

Section 1
Track #1 - Introduction

Question 1 found at the bottom of this page
Answer Booklet | Table of Contents
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Welcome to the Home Study Course sponsored by the Healthcare Training Institute, homestudycredit.com.  This course is entitled, Interventions for Clients coping with cancer

Our primary intent for this home study course is to provide quality education to foster your professional growth.  The Institute has provided quality education since 1979.
 
We appreciate that you have chosen us as a vehicle for you to earn your Continuing Education Credit.

The purpose of the course is to assist you in increasing your knowledge regarding how to treat patients, clients, etc. dealing with cancer.  As each case study is given, if the concepts seem to be applicable to your situation, I encourage you to turn your CD player off and make a few notes regarding the application of the principle to your setting.  However, these notes are for your purposes only and are not to be sent to the Institute.  Also each track is very content dense.  So feel free to replay the track to review the content either for your own purposes, or if you feel appropriate play the track in an individual or group session for client education.  Also permission is granted to reproduce this CD.  We encourage you to duplicate and give copies of this CD to colleagues, clients, etc. as you deem appropriate. We feel the information on our CD's is valuable.  Thus, we have an interest in distributing CD's in as many ways as possible, to benefit the greatest number of people, who have a need and are receptive to this practical information.

The questions in your Answer Booklet are sequential and deal with the section of content that preceded it.  For this reason, to facilitate the answering of each question, you might read the question from the Answer Booklet prior to listening to that CD track.  By knowing what the question is ahead of time, you will then know the content to listen for that contains the answer.  So just a hint, after you write down the answer to a question in your Answer Booklet, read on to the next question in order to give you a “heads up” to listen for the content that contains the answer to the next question.

Merely write the correct letter on the corresponding blank line in your answer booklet. Each answer is only used once. Keep in mind there is nothing tricky or hard about these questions.  They are merely intended to verify the playing of this CD.

For the purpose of brevity, most generally, I will use the term “therapists” or “mental health professional.”  However, don’t let these terms deter you from applying the concepts to your situations.  When you hear the word “therapists,” if your job title is social worker, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, professional counselor, resident director, program assistant, etc. merely substitute the appropriate term that is the most meaningful to you. In short, don’t let my use of the term “therapists” cognitively set you off track from hearing the content because your job title is school counselor, for example.  I will also use the term “client” for the purposes of brevity.  However, if you deal with patients, residents, students, consumers, etc., transpose “client” for the term that is the most meaningful to you in your work setting. 

On this CD set we will discuss such topics as dealing with discovery, awfulizing, how to beat cancer, taking charge, reforming negative emotions, hope, making plans for the future, breaking the news, hospital strategies, if the illness is not progressing, and rebounding and rebuilding.

So  let’s get started

On the rest of this track we will discuss influences or factors that affect how well clients cope.  I have found four factors play into how my client may cope with cancer.  The four types of influences are the disease itself, stage of life, resources, values, and emotional patterns of the client, and social support.  As you listen to this track, consider your client.  How long has he or she been living with the diagnosis of cancer?  What information might you try to obtain from your client in order to define the influences in his or her life which may influence how the client might cope with cancer?

#1  The Disease Itself
First, let’s discuss the disease itself as an influence that affects how well clients cope with cancer.  I find that where the cancer is located, what stage it is in, and which treatment therapies have been proposed or are being implemented affect the magnitude of the stressor that cancer represents.  Would you agree?  Clearly, a woman who has been recently diagnosed with localized cancer of the cervix medically would appear to have much less serious disease and, therefore, by some standards less of a stressor to cope with than a woman who finds that her cancer has spread to distant organs.  However stress is clearly based upon perception.

#2  Stage of Life
Next, let’s discuss stage of life.  How might your client’s stage of life influence his or her ability to cope?  Might cancer be more devastating to a younger person?  Perhaps the localized cervical cancer of the woman from the previous example might find her diagnosis to be life shattering if she has not yet had children.

#3  Social Support
In addition to the disease itself and stage of life, third let’s discuss social support.  Research indicates that the more connected people are to family, faith communities, friends, and other groups, the better able they are to meet the challenge of serious disease.  For example, Nancy, age 41, was a breast cancer patient.  Nancy stated, “I primarily get support from my husband and my two kids.  They never waver in their concern and care for me.  Also, I work with a couple nurses who call or stop by pretty regularly.  We gossip a lot about people at work, but in fact, they help keep me connected.”  The forms of social support clients seek out may vary.  In my experience, I find that men tend to seek out solitary avenues of support while woman tend toward formal or informal support groups.  Think of your client.  If he or she is already engaged in one type of support, could it be helpful to encourage other types of support?

Let’s look at the other side of the connection between social support and coping with cancer.  Would you agree that Branden suffered from additional distress?  Branden, age 28, stated, “Here I am undergoing the removal of some weird cancerous mass and my fiancé, the woman I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with, leaves me!”  Perhaps Branden’s perceived abandonment was more devastating to him than the disease itself.

I find that support, however, is by no means limited to the emotional variety.  A parent with cancer can benefit simply from a neighbor’s offer to baby sit a couple of afternoons a week, allowing the parent time alone.  Healthcare professionals can provide informational support when they tell cancer patients what to expect and help them gain insight into the predictable course of their disease.  Clients often report that just knowing that a particular physical or emotional reaction to a type of surgery is normal can help resolve emotional distress and enhance the client’s ability to cope with the cancer treatment. 

#4  Resources, Values, and Emotional Patterns
Finally, let’s discuss resources, values, and emotional patterns of the client.  Some of these factors are obvious.  Personal and cognitive skills play a role.  I have found a client’s previous personal experience with cancer can also affect coping.  A client who has watched a parent or sibling suffer from a lengthy illness is more likely to adopt an attitude of hopelessness than is someone with a similar cancer who has seen a family member go into remission and live well for years. 

Have your found like I that religion, spirituality, and the belief in an afterlife may also affect the way clients cope with cancer.  Some clients may feel that cancer is a punishment for sin, or a path to a higher plane of existence.  Or perhaps a client’s religious beliefs emphasize selflessness and the stoic acceptance of suffering, resulting in difficulty for the client to complain appropriately and get the necessary care.  Think of your client.  How might his or her resources, values, and emotional patterns affect how he or she copes with cancer?

On this track we have discussed influences or factors that affect how well clients cope with cancer.  Four influences can be the disease itself, stage of life, resources, values, and emotional patterns of the client, and social support. 

On the next track we will discuss dealing with discovery.  Let’s examine three issues surrounding dealing with discovery.  They are denial, anger, and sense of loss.  We’ll also discuss techniques for minimizing the sense of loss.

QUESTION 1
What are four factors that affect how a client copes with cancer? To select and enter your answer go to Answer Booklet.