Fall 2011


New Term
Social prescribing: a method to link patients with sources of support available in the community. Click for more.
The Comforts of Collaboration
Working with so many of you over the past several months has been immensely rewarding. I'm learning more about what you care about, and we're figuring out together how to share your concerns, experiences and activities with this online community. The results of our first tentative steps are highlighted in this issue of the newsletter. More about what we've been up to here...
Discussion Forum
Scholarships for survivors?
Karine Chalifour, Young Adult Cancer Canada, has been getting questions from survivors and hopes that you have some answers. Visit the forum to find out what she tells people.

Blogs
New Bloggers Welcome
Three new bloggers have joined CPOP Online: Andi Céline is a kinesiology graduate student who blogs in both French and English; nursing professors Christine Maheu, who is at York University, and Margareth Zanchetta, who is at Ryerson University, will be posting in French.

If anyone else wants to share their knowledge and experience, please get in touch and we’ll set you up. The basics are here.

_C-CANS to C-CENS
This past summer, PhD candidate Daniel Sta.Mina applied for a CIHR grant entitled Developing the Canadian Cancer Activity Network. CPOP hosted a page to support the application. An update - including a name change - is here.

Open Recruiting
We have created a section to assist researchers with recruiting. To support brilliant discovery, please post and distribute study announcements.

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Headlines

New initiatives for cervical screening in Newfoundland and Labrador

_First Nation cancer care course expanding to all provinces

_Tactile massage and hypnosis as a health promotion for nurses in emergency care - a qualitative study (Open access)

Patient navigators becoming the norm in Canada

_ Educating patients with pictures

Colorectal cancer: patients aren't getting the information they want

_ Oncologists’ use of patient educational materials about cancer and fertility preservation

A performance measurement tool for cancer patient information and satisfaction

_Age no longer a barrier to stem cell transplantation for older patients

Reducing anxiety and depression in high-risk patients

Do fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbance share a common underlying mechanism?

Biobehavioral factors and cancer progression: physiological pathways and mechanisms

Cancer feeds on stress, local researchers find

Psychosocial problems and needs of posttreatment patients with breast cancer and their relatives
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Major illnesses big threat to uninsured

Poor men more likely to die from bowel cancer

_Expert panel urges decriminalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide

Journal news

Workshops & Abstracts

Notes from the 2011 CPOP workshop, which ran immediately after the CAPO conference, are here. Abstracts from CAPO are here.

NEWS

_ Spreading Knowledge
In early November, five months after launching its interactive online Knowledge Centre, Ovarian Cancer Canada reported that people were learning from the site. The site reports that, "More than 1,100 learning modules and quizzes in English and over 420 in French were completed between May and October of 2011. Average correct responses for quizzes ranged from a high of 85% to a low of 50% – with most people achieving at or above 70% correct. Learning modules with quizzes include Risk Factors, Signs & Symptoms, The Role of Genetics and What To Do. The most popular module in both English and French was Signs and Symptoms." Full story; Nov. 2, 2011.

A Symbolic Petition
The Canadian Breast Cancer Network is encouraging people to sign a Breast Cancer Action Montreal petition to enforce labeling with recognizable symbols of products that contain cancer-causing chemicals. More at CBCN. Direct link to petition page.

_ A Meta-analysis of the Emotional Impact of Screening
Meta-analysis revealed no significant impact of screening on longer-term anxiety, depression, or quality of life subscales. Screening does not appear to have adverse emotional impacts in the longer term (> 4 weeks). Too few studies assessed outcomes before four weeks to comment on the shorter term emotional impact of screening. Link.
Inspired Care in Victoria
Oct. 13, 2011: The BC Ministry of Health is supporting the expansion of InspireHealth, Canada’s first and foremost integrative cancer care centre, to Victoria as part of its Healthy Families BC initiative. Led by medical doctors, integrative cancer care combines nutrition, exercise and immune and emotional support with standard cancer care such as radiation and chemotherapy. More.

Women, Cancer & Sexuality
"Sexual health concerns rate high in the list of unmet needs for women dealing with cancer, with about 50% of women indicating sexuality as a concern for them for many years after treatment. Unfortunately both women and health care professionals hesitate to raise these concerns, leading to unnecessary distress for women and their partners.” - Dr. Deborah McLeod, presenting on Women, cancer and sexuality at CancerAnswers in late October. CancerAnswers is a Cancer Care Nova Scotia event. The press release is here, the slide deck here. 

_ Is Self-regulation More Important Than Quality of Life?
There is some evidence that questionnaires measuring patients’ adaptive capacity towards disease and health-orientated life-style change, such as the sense of coherence or self-regulation, could have stronger association with prognosis in oncology or other chronic conditions than HRQL scales. More.
Kidney Cancer's Own
Survivorship Study
Kidney Cancer Canada has hired Leger Marketing, an independent research firm, to help better understand the survivorship experience of patients originally diagnosed at Stage 1, 2, or 3. More.

Video Gallery Launch
Just launched by Canadian Virtual Hospice: a library of educational, informative, and often personal video clips on palliative care, loss, and grief. Videos include interviews with leading palliative care experts as well as patients and families living with life-limiting illness.

_Be Known, Be Available, Be Mutual
Study excerpt: The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the values informing good palliative care from rural individuals’ perspectives. We conducted a qualitative ethnographic study in four rural communities in Western Canada. Each community had a population of 10,000 or less and was located at least a three hour travelling distance by car from a specialist palliative care treatment centre. More.

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An administrative note: We're collecting data to measure the experiences of visitors to this website. To share your thoughts, click the icon. En française.

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Disclaimer

We are only able to deliver this issue of the newsletter in English at the moment. We welcome reports and events in French and are looking at other ways to increase the French-language content of these newsletters. We welcome any suggestions or help with this.

You are receiving this newsletter as part of your membership in CPOP or CPOPOnline. If you wish to discontinue your subscription, please email jan@cpoponline.ca with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE. No other information will be required.
People
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Conference Coverage Online

"We recommend that the federal government provide stable funding to the Pallium Project and the Canadian Virtual Hospice..."

Reports
Resources

Events

ELLICSR Survivorship Research Rounds
Online; held monthly
To learn more about ELLICSR, click here.

Go to the home page for more events.