New Challenges in Communication with Cancer Patients

Table of Contents



Communication: Back to the Human Side of Medicine

Antonella Surbone, Matjaz Zwitter, Mirjana Rajer and Richard Stiefel



Part I: The Cancer llness: Discovering Truth

1. From Truth Telling to Truth In the Making: A Paradigm Shift in Communication with Cancer Patients

Antonella Surbone

2. Denial in Patient-Physician Communication Among Patients with Cancer

Neil Aggarwal and Michael Rowe

3. Managing Uncertainty

Lidia Schapira

4. Ethical Issues in Disclosing Bad News to Cancer Patients: Reflections of an Oncologist in Saudi Arabia

Ali Al-Amri

5. Psychological Challenges for the Oncology Clinician Who Has to Break Bad News

Friedrich Stiefel and Sonia Krenz

6. Dealing with Depression: Communicating with Cancer Patients and Grieving Relatives

Luigi Grassi, Rosangela Caruso and Maria Giulia Nanni

7. Communication Issues in Integrative Oncology

Donald Abrams

8. Communicating About Spiritual Issues with Cancer Patients

Lorenzo Norris, Kathryn Walseman and Christina M. Puchalski

9. Understanding Perspective Transformation Among Recently Diagnosed Cancer Patients in Western India

Avinash Thombre and Allen C. Sherman



Part II: The Patient and The Family



10. In the Pursuit of Meaning: Cancer and the Family

Lea Baider

11. The Patient's Personality as a Guide to Communication Strategy

Purvish Parikh, Kumar Prabhash, GS Bhattacharyya and AA Ranade

12. Challenges to the Disclosure of Bad News to Cancer Patients in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia as an Example

Ali Aljubran

Antonella Surbone is a medical oncologist working in Italy and the US. Together with Professor Zwitter and Richard Stiefel, she authored and edited the 1997 New York Academy of Sciences volume Communication with the Cancer Patient: Information and truth, which inspired her further work and this present book.

Matjaz Zwitter is a radiation oncologist with a long-term interest in lung cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and medical ethics. In addition, he serves as Professor of Medical Ethics at the Medical School, University of Maribor, Slovenia.

Mirjana Rajer is a medical oncology student at the Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana. She is involved in clinical research in lung cancer and conducts research in cancer-patient communication, with special emphasis on the impact of media and the Internet on patient-physician communication.

Richard Stiefel first worked with Drs. Surbone and Zwitter during his twenty years as Associate Editor of the Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences. He has had a parallel career as Lecturer in Music Theory at Hunter College of the City University of New York. she authored and edited the 1997 New York Academy of Sciences volume Communication with the Cancer Patient: Information and truth, which inspired her further work and this present book.

Matjaz Zwitter is a radiation oncologist with a long-term interest in lung cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and medical ethics. In addition, he serves as Professor of Medical Ethics at the Medical School, University of Maribor, Slovenia.

Mirjana Rajer is a medical oncology student at the Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana. She is involved in clinical research in lung cancer and conducts research in cancer-patient communication, with special emphasis on the impact of media and the Internet on patient-physician communication.

Richard Stiefel first worked with Drs. Surbone and Zwitter during his twenty years as Associate Editor of the Annals of The New York Academy