Vol. 19 No. 4 (2025)

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 4537

Psychological resilience as a predictor of quality of life in ultrasound-guided chemotherapy: A retrospective cohort study

by Shan Zhu, Yali Zeng, Peng Yue

Psycho-Oncologie , Vol.19, No.4, 2025; 206 Views

Background: Psychological resilience may regulate the metabolism of chemotherapy drugs through neuroendocrine mechanisms, but its role in the local administration mode remains unclear. This study explores the influence of the psychological resilience level of breast cancer patients on the pharmacokinetics of ultrasound-guided intratumoral injection of paclitaxel. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 120 breast cancer patients who received intratumoral paclitaxel treatment. They were divided into the high resilience group and the low resilience group (60 cases in each group) according to the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The peripheral blood drug concentration was detected, the pharmacokinetic parameters AUC0-10h (ng·h/mL), C max (ng/mL), T max (h), and t 1/2 (h) were calculated, and the differences in molecular subtypes were analyzed. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Core Scale Chinese version was utilized to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) of patients. Result: There were statistically significant differences between the high-resilience group and the low-resilience group in terms of smoking history ( p = 0.047), ALT ( p = 0.046), and the prevalence of hypertension ( p = 0.032). Psychological resilience may affect the metabolism and elimination of drugs, resulting in greater drug exposure and longer half-life in the low psychological resilience group. In both the Luminal and HER2+ subtypes, the AUC₀-₁₀ₕ in the low resilience group was significantly higher than that in the high resilience group. The CD-RISC score was significantly negatively correlated with the AUC of paclitaxel ( r = -0.672, p < 0.001). For every 10-point increase in the CD-RISC score, the overall QOL of patients can improve by 4.3 points, and the symptoms of fatigue and pain are significantly reduced. Conclusion: Psychological resilience may optimize the local efficacy by reducing systemic leakage of paclitaxel, especially in HER2-positive patients. The CD-RISC score may be used as an auxiliary predictive indicator for individualized local chemotherapy.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 3629

Impact of combining cognitive intervention and psychological care on the mental health of patients with benign breast tumors

by Feifei Xu, Sheng Xu

Psycho-Oncologie , Vol.19, No.4, 2025; 137 Views

To explore the effect of cognitive intervention combined with psychological nursing on the mental health of female patients undergoing surgery for benign breast tumors. From September 2023 to September 2024, 80 patients with benign breast tumors who underwent surgery in our hospital were selected as study subjects and randomly divided into a control group and a study group using a random number table, with 40 patients in each group. The control group received routine nursing, while the study group received cognitive intervention combined with psychological nursing on the basis of the control group. The mental status, coping styles, and illness uncertainty of the two groups were observed and compared.  After nursing, the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores of the study group were lower than those of the control group ( p < 0.05). In terms of coping styles, the simplified coping style questionnaire (SCSQ) positive coping score of the study group was significantly higher than that of the control group ( p < 0.05), while the negative coping score of the study group was significantly lower than that of the control group ( p < 0.05). Additionally, in terms of illness uncertainty, the study group had lower scores than the control group on the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale Adult (MUISA) for uncertainty, complexity, lack of information, and unpredictability ( p < 0.05). Implementing cognitive intervention combined with psychological nursing for female patients undergoing surgery for benign breast tumors can significantly improve their mental health, reduce their uncertainty during treatment, and prompt them to actively cope with the disease. There are also some limitations in this study. Firstly, the sample size of the study is small; secondly, the patients included in this study were benign tumor patients, so the requirements of the intervention technique do not need to be very high, which may also affect the results of the experiment.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 3639

Exploration of emotional journey navigation with coping approaches for breast cancer patients

by Chengzhe Guo, Shibing Zhou, Shanshan Yuan

Psycho-Oncologie , Vol.19, No.4, 2025; 148 Views

Breast cancer survivors face significant obstacles even after receiving effective treatment, including problems with body image, anxiety and despair, stress from lifestyle changes, and ongoing difficulties managing their health. Among female-specific illnesses, breast cancer ranks high. Although mortality rates have decreased due to therapies and prevention efforts, patients’ physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual lives are still profoundly affected by their diagnosis and subsequent treatment. It is conceivable that targeted psychosocial therapies to improve the health and well-being of women living with breast cancer may be better designed if there is a better understanding of how these people, both mentally and emotionally, reflect their disease and coping mechanisms. This study explored the illness perceptions and coping strategies among women receiving care for breast cancer. This study seeks to explore the experiences of the different stages women with breast cancer go through employing a patient journey. In this research, 15 adults who had breast cancer surgery were interviewed individually using a web-based survey (WBS) within three months after the procedure. Foundational data (such as sociodemographics) was derived via quantitative surveys. This study used thematic analysis to examine each interview separately. Suicide ideation and mental health concept validation was the goal of the quantitative data analysis that made use of confirmatory factor analysis. Afterwards, this study isolated and scaled the significant relationships between mental health and suicidal thoughts for additional bivariate analysis. Interview transcripts and survey replies were subjected to a qualitative inductive theme analysis. Patient journey and patient diagnosis and continuing during therapy, sentiment analysis was used to enhance the thematic results.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 4549

Effects of a psychoneurointeraction-based personalized psychological care model on postoperative recovery in glioblastoma patients

by Jiayang Xu, Aiping Xu, Jia Yu, Longfan Piao

Psycho-Oncologie , Vol.19, No.4, 2025; 144 Views

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a common malignant neuroepithelial tumor of the central nervous system in adults. The preferred treatment method is surgical treatment. During the perioperative period, patients will experience huge physiological and psychological burdens, which may influence the surgical outcome and recovery. Traditional nursing care patterns lack individualized psychological intervention and show limited impact on patients’ psychological states. Objective: This study seeks to investigate the effects of individualized psychological nursing care on the psychological states, neuroendocrine responses, and postoperative recovery for patients with GBMs in the perioperative period. Methods: This was a prospective quasi-experimental study conducted at the Affiliated Hospital of Yanbian University from January 2023 to March 2024. A total of 84 GBM patients undergoing surgical treatment were enrolled and assigned into a treatment group ( n = 42) and a control group ( n = 42) using 1:1 propensity score matching. The treatment group received a personalized psychological care model based on psychoneurointeraction theory in addition to standard nursing care, while the control group received standard psychological nursing care only. Evaluations were conducted 1 day preoperatively, and on postoperative Days 3 and 7. Primary outcomes included psychological measures (anxiety, depression, perceived stress) and physiological markers [serum cortisol, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine, and inflammatory markers]. Results: The treatment group displayed substantially lowered scores for anxiety, depression, and perceived stress on Days 3 and 7 postoperatively compared with those in the control group ( P < 0.05); this group also showed remarkably lowered levels of serum cortisol and inflammatory factors [interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)] in contrast with the control group ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: The intervention method of individualized psychological nursing care based on the theory of neural interactions can bring about dramatic improvements for GBM patients’ perioperative mental states, physiological stress responses, postoperative recovery, and complications.

Open Access

Review

Article ID: 4630

Psychological benefits of exercise for cancer survivors

by Xiangli Ni, Xiao-Juan, Jianghua Li

Psycho-Oncologie , Vol.19, No.4, 2025; 194 Views

Cancer survivors often face a variety of psychological challenges during the treatment process. With the promotion of comprehensive treatment models, exercise, as a non-pharmacological adjunct therapy, has increasingly gained attention for its role in improving the psychological health of cancer survivors. This paper reviews the relevant literature and deeply explores the positive effects of exercise on the psychological health of cancer survivors, attempting to reveal the physiological and psychological mechanisms behind these effects. From a psychological perspective, exercise not only alleviates symptoms of anxiety, depression, and cancer-related fatigue but also fosters positive social interaction and enhances self-efficacy. The realization of these positive effects may involve multiple mechanisms, such as increased levels of endorphins after exercise, increased cardiorespiratory and muscle strength, enhanced immune system functioning, increased social support, and improved self-efficacy. This paper also analyzes the main challenges encountered in the implementation of exercise interventions, such as individual differences among patients, exercise compliance, and how to more effectively integrate exercise interventions into standard cancer treatment. Finally, this paper looks forward to the direction of future research, suggesting that subsequent studies should focus on the personalized design of exercise interventions, explore the specific effects of different types, intensities, and durations of exercise on cancer survivors of different types and stages. Demographic characteristics such as cultural background, socioeconomic status, gender, and age should also be explored in depth to explore the potential moderating effects of exercise intervention effects and adherence. Collectively, these findings highlight the novel psychosocial contributions of exercise interventions, particularly in facilitating social interaction and enhancing self-efficacy, thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of their therapeutic potential. This is expected to provide a more scientific and effective exercise intervention strategy for the quality of life and psychosocial resilience of cancer survivors.