Cancer care—A stress for health professionals

https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(88)90324-3Get rights and content

Abstract

Literature related to health care professionals dealing with stress of cancer care is still in its infancy. The authors distinguish papers of general interest (the most frequent), papers identifying stressors, and papers about stress consequences. Most of them recognize death of the patients as a major stressor for health care professionals. There are also additional stressors specific to health care and work. Consequences of stressors have another important dimension: working with cancer patients is often a chronic stress which may lead to the development of burnout and poor quality of care. Little also is actually known about how coping strategies and/or support are influencing adaptation and stress consequences. The authors suggest that an important effort should be made to evaluate stress, and its consequences on poor staff communication with cancer patients and their families. Training interventions aimed at a better quality of care should be designed and their usefulness investigated. The effectiveness of training for health care professionals dealing with cancer patients is reviewed.

References (70)

  • M. Gluck

    Overcoming stresses in communication with the fatally ill

    Milit. Med.

    (1977)
  • R. Schulz et al.

    How the medical staff copes with dying patients: a critical review

    Omega

    (1976)
  • J.D. Lieff

    Eight reasons why doctors fear the elderly, chronic illness, and death

    J. transpers. Psychol.

    (1982)
  • S. Masterson-Allen et al.

    Staff burnout in a hospice setting

    The Hospice J.

    (1985)
  • J. Wilson-Barnett

    Stress in Hospital. Patients' Psychological Reactions to Illness and Health Care

    (1979)
  • G.L. Engel

    Conversion symptoms

  • R.S. Lazarus et al.

    Stress, Appraisal, and Coping

    (1984)
  • S. Cohen et al.

    Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis

    Psychol. Bull.

    (1985)
  • T. Cox et al.

    Simulated repetitive work and self-reported mood

    J. occup. Behav.

    (1982)
  • S.F. Jacobson et al.

    Nurses Under Stress

    (1983)
  • D. Hay et al.

    The psychological stress of intensive care unit nursing

    Psychosom. Med.

    (1972)
  • P.W. Pruyser

    Existential impact of professional exposure to life-threatening or terminal illness

    Bull. Menninger Clin.

    (1984)
  • T.R. Price et al.

    The relationship to death as a source of stress for nurses on a coronary care unit

    Omega

    (1977)
  • J.T. Bailey et al.

    The stress audit: identifying the stressors of ICU nursing

    J. nurs. Educ.

    (1980)
  • P. Leatt et al.

    Differences in stress perceived by headnurses across nursing specialties in hospitals

    J. Adv. Nurs.

    (1980)
  • J. Barston

    Stress variance in hospice nursing

    Nurs. Outlook

    (December 1980)
  • F.M. Bates et al.

    Stress in hospital personal

    Med. J. Aust.

    (1975)
  • B.E. Stewart et al.

    Psychological stress associated with outpatient oncology nursing

    Cancer Nursg

    (October 1982)
  • P. Gray-Toft et al.

    The nursing stress scale: development of an instrument

    J. behav. Assess.

    (1980)
  • S.F. Jacobson

    Stresses and coping strategies of neonatal intensive care unit nurses

    Res. Nurs. Hlth

    (1983)
  • R. Yancik

    Coping with hospice work stress

    J. psychosoc. Oncol.

    (1984)
  • J.P. Rafferty

    The personal stress of working with seriously ill: impact on the caregiver

    Prog. Clin. Biol. Res.

    (1983)
  • H.J. Freudenberger

    Staff burn-out

    J. soc. Issues

    (1974)
  • C.H. Maslach et al.

    Burnout in health professions: a social psychological analysis

  • D. Doyle

    An education center for professionals

    Death Educ.

    (1982)
  • Cited by (67)

    • Burnout and the provision of psychosocial care amongst Australian cancer nurses

      2016, European Journal of Oncology Nursing
      Citation Excerpt :

      Psychosocial care involves the provision of psychological, emotional and social support, which has been demonstrated in many studies to reduce distress and improve outcomes for patients with cancer. However, difficulty dealing with the psychosocial aspect of cancer care has been specifically identified as a source of stress and concern amongst cancer nurses (Cohen, 1995; Delvaux et al., 1988). There is a well established body of evidence demonstrating that psychosocial care can increase wellbeing, improve adjustment and coping and reduce the psychological distress experienced by people with cancer (Hutchison et al., 2006).

    • Exploring the work of nurses who administer chemotherapy to children and young people

      2013, European Journal of Oncology Nursing
      Citation Excerpt :

      The nature of the work itself and the work environment can impact on a nurses’ performance. It has been suggested that one of the main reasons for oncology nurses experiencing stress and burnout is associated with chemotherapy administration (Delvaux et al., 1988). The modified Stress-Response-Sequence (SRS) model offers a description of the relationship between stressors and individual’s reactions to the stressors.

    • Exploring the work of nurses who administer chemotherapy

      2008, European Journal of Oncology Nursing
    • Communication skills of health-care professionals working in oncology-Can they be improved?

      2008, European Journal of Oncology Nursing
      Citation Excerpt :

      Blocking behaviours are an important category of inhibitory behaviours and are used immediately after a patient expresses negative emotion (a cue). Blocking is used by HCP to prevent further disclosure of emotion and emotionally laden issues by their patients, thus changing the course of the communication to safe ground (Lanhem et al., 1980; Maguire et al., 1980, 1996a; Maguire, 1985a; Delvaux et al., 1988; Nimocks et al., 1987; Wilkinson, 1991; Booth et al., 1996). Common examples of inhibitory and blocking behaviours are shown in Table 2.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text