Browsing by Author "Bernat, Jennifer K."

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    Abbreviated dignity therapy for adults with advanced-stage cancer and their family caregivers: Qualitative analysis of a pilot study
    (Cambridge University Press, 2019-06) Beck, Adrienne; Cottingham, Ann H.; Stutz, Patrick V.; Gruber, Rachel; Bernat, Jennifer K.; Helft, Paul R.; Wilhelm, Laura; Schmidt, Karen; Stout, Madison E.; Willard, Claire; Johns, Shelley A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Objective Dignity therapy (DT) is designed to address psychological and existential challenges that terminally ill individuals face. DT guides patients in developing a written legacy project in which they record and share important memories and messages with those they will leave behind. DT has been demonstrated to ease existential concerns for adults with advanced-stage cancer; however, lack of institutional resources limits wide implementation of DT in clinical practice. This study explores qualitative outcomes of an abbreviated, less resource-intensive version of DT among participants with advanced-stage cancer and their legacy project recipients. Method Qualitative methods were used to analyze postintervention interviews with 11 participants and their legacy recipients as well as the created legacy projects. Direct content analysis was used to assess feedback from the interviews about benefits, barriers, and recommendations regarding abbreviated DT. The legacy projects were coded for expression of core values. Result Findings suggest that abbreviated DT effectively promotes (1) self-expression, (2) connection with loved ones, (3) sense of purpose, and (4) continuity of self. Participants observed that leading the development of their legacy projects promoted independent reflection, autonomy, and opportunities for family interaction when reviewing and discussing the projects. Consistent with traditional DT, participants expressed “family” as the most common core value in their legacy projects. Expression of “autonomy” was also a notable finding. Significance of results Abbreviated DT reduces resource barriers to conducting traditional DT while promoting similar benefits for participants and recipients, making it a promising adaptation warranting further research. The importance that patients place on family and autonomy should be honored as much as possible by those caring for adults with advanced-stage cancer.
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    Communicating breast cancer risk information to young adult women: A pilot study
    (Routledge, 2017-05-04) Bernat, Jennifer K.; Hullmann, Stephanie E.; Sparks, Glenn G.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Objective To examine the effectiveness of a health promotion flyer to increase awareness of breast cancer risk and physical activity as a risk reduction strategy in young adult women. Methods Young adult women (N = 123) viewed one of five health promotion flyers online and then completed measures of perceived breast cancer risk (PR) and perceived informativeness (PI) and a qualitative thought-listing activity. Results Differences were observed in PI such that the control and low risk/low information messages were significantly less informative than the others. Qualitative analyses revealed two general themes: message content and flyer design. Additional analyses of the flyer design comments revealed four sub-themes: negative thoughts about the image, positive thoughts about the image, misunderstanding breast cancer risk information, and social comparison. Exploratory analyses controlling for message type indicated that image appraisal predicted PI such that those who commented on the image found the flyer to be less informative. Discussion Results suggest that the flyer was informative but did not impact young women’s breast cancer risk perceptions. Additionally, the image may have distracted young women from the intended message. Evaluating the acceptability of images used in health promotion materials is recommended before testing the effectiveness of the intervention.
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    Negative information seeking experiences of long-term prostate cancer survivors
    (Springer, 2016-12) Bernat, Jennifer K.; Skolarus, Ted A.; Hawley, Sarah T.; Haggstrom, David A.; Darwish-Yassine, May; Wittmann, Daniela A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Purpose Many prostate cancer survivors have lasting symptoms and disease-related concerns for which they seek information. To understand survivors’ information seeking experiences, we examined the topics of their information searches, their overall perceptions of the search, and perceptions of their health information seeking self-efficacy (i.e., confidence in their ability to obtain information). We hypothesized that negative search experiences and lower health information seeking self-efficacy would be associated with certain survivor characteristics such as non-white race, low income, and less education. Methods This was a retrospective study using data from the Michigan Prostate Cancer Survivor Study (state-based survey of long-term prostate cancer survivor outcomes, N=2,499, response rate = 38%). Participants recalled their last search for information and reported the topics and overall experience. We conducted multivariable regression to examine the association between survivor characteristics and the information-seeking experience. Results Nearly a third (31.7%) of prostate cancer survivors (median age of 76 years and 9 years since diagnosis) reported having negative information seeking experiences when looking for information. However, only 13.4% reported having low health information seeking self-efficacy. Lower income and less education were both significantly associated with negative information seeking experiences. Conclusions Our findings suggest that many long-term prostate cancer survivors have negative experiences when searching for information, and lower income and less education were survivor factors related to negative information seeking experiences. Implications for cancer survivors We advocate for ongoing, information needs assessment at the point-of-care as the survivorship experience progresses to assess and potentially improve survivors’ quality of life.