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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Qiuping Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. Wuxi School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
2. Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Interests: cancer; colorectal cancer; family (spousal) caregivers; couple; dyadic coping; survivorship care; psycho-social support
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With aging populations and advances in cancer screening and treatment technologies, the number of cancer survivors has increased substantially worldwide in recent decades. It is well-accepted that cancer and its treatment not only affect the patient but also their close family members leading to the description of cancer as a ‘we-disease’. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted cancer care worldwide. Many countries reduced face-to-face consultations to minimize the risk of nosocomial infection and redirected care to people with COVID-19.

This Special Issue of Healthcare seeks all types of study design, including papers reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses, quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods studies, case studies and other designs, in accordance with cancer care associated with supporting cancer survivors, family caregivers, and oncology professionals. We are particularly keen to include studies focusing on colorectal cancer, long-term survivorship care, supporting self-management and rehabilitation, oncology-nurse-led survivorship care, eHealth, or web-based interventions in this regard.

Prof. Dr. Qiuping Li
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

17 pages, 532 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Illness Perceptions and Coping Experiences of Patients with Colorectal Cancer and Their Spousal Caregivers: A Qualitative Study

by Yi Zhang, Ye Wang, Rongyu Li, Zheng Sun and Qiuping Li

Healthcare 2024, 12(11), 1073; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12111073 - 24 May 2024

Viewed by 200

Abstract

(1) Background: Illness perception (IP) is an important psychological construct for couples dealing with cancer, which impacts health outcomes and the psychological adjustment to cancer. More research is needed to explore the traits of IP and the efforts of couples coping with cancer. Thus, this study was designed to explore the coping experiences and features of the IPs of couples dealing with cancer. (2) Methods: A total of 24 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and 20 spousal caregivers (SCs) participated in semi-structured interviews. All interviews were recorded digitally, transcribed, and analyzed by using an inductive thematic analysis. (3) Results: Two themes (individualized and predominant IP; IP sharing and restructuring) were developed. A preliminary framework was formulated to illustrate the relations among subthemes and the relations between themes with an adjustment of a positive IP to CRC. In this framework, based on multiple sources and factors, the natural disparities formed the IPs of the partners of couples and determined the incongruence of IPs. The effects of IP incongruence on lives under the disease guided the three directions of coping approaches (i.e., information and available support, appropriate disclosure and reflection, and leaving the CRC diagnosis behind) which were adopted by couples dealing with CRC to share and restructure the IP with their spouses for effective dyadic coping. (4) Conclusions: This study provides insights to healthcare providers into the experiences of couples dealing with CRC and the development of couple-based IP intervention programs: (a) it initially provides adequate factual knowledge for enhancing beliefs in the ability to control illness, (b) encourages illness-centered conversations and disclosure regarding thoughts and emotions for promoting positive congruence of IP between the partners of couples dealing with a hard dilemma, and (c) guides couples to perceive positive changes and explore the illness’s meaning. Understanding each theme of personalized IP and adopting effective IP coping approaches can help guide couples dealing with CRC to efficiently promote constructive IP and better health outcomes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nursing Care for Cancer Patients: Second Edition)

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