The DIVA Foundation » Mental health

End-of-life care for cancer patients

DIVA — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:33:42 +0000

The Canadian Cancer Society recently released a report detailing the end-of-life care of cancer patients. This report was released in conjunction with the Canadian Cancer Statistics 2010 report.

The report summarized that there is an ever increasing burden placed on family members of cancer patients when dealing with the end-of-life care. One of the main factors is this is due to the rise in the number of deaths associated with cancer. This increase in combination with a weak support system for patients and family members means that these affected groups are not getting the support they need.

The Canadian Cancer Society recommends:

An increase in how long a caregiver can receive financial benefits for compassionate care to 26 weeks from the current six weeks, given the unpredictability of death.
Establish a caregiver tax benefit that would be paid monthly to help caregivers with the costs related to caring for a loved one with cancer.

To learn more about the study and recommendations, see the associated CBC article.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/05/19/cancer-canada-statistics.html

The birth control pill turns 50 years old

DIVA — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:44:59 +0000

As many women and their families celebrated Mother’s Day this year, an auspicious milestone in the social and cultural history of women’s health also occurred: the Pill turned 50 years old. Sunday May 9, 2010 marks the 50^th anniversary of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the birth control pill.

Throughout its history, the Pill has been the center of ongoing controversy about what it means for women to be able to medically control their reproductive health. Whether it is seen as a boon to women’s emancipation by empowering them to control their bodies, or as an instrument of moral decay, the Pill certainly medicalized contraception, leading to, if not sexual revolution, at least a broadening of perceptions about what constitutes women’s health. As pointed out by Andrea Tone, Canada Research Chair in the Social History of Medicine at McGill University, in an interview with the Globe and Mail: “Prior to 1960, it was rare for a woman to talk to a doctor about birth control… But the Pill required a gynecological exam, a consultation and discussion about intimate matters, which led to the wider conversation about women’s health.”

You can read more about the Pill and how it has shaped both women’s health and the broader social and cultural landscape over the past 50 years in the following articles:

Women benefit from motivational women-only cardiac rehab

DIVA — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:45:07 +0000

A recent US study has shown that women undergoing cardiac rehabilitation experience better results when the rehabilitation program is specifically tailored to women, as opposed to mixed-gender rehab programs.

The 5-year clinical study, led by Theresa Beckie of University of South Florida’s College of Nursing in Tampa, Florida, showed that when women participated in a women-only rehab program they were more willing to attend rehabilitation and more likely to adhere to the lifestyle changes (such as diet changes and exercise programs).

Dr. Beckie explains that one of the keys to the women-only program is to work within each patient’s threshold of readiness for change. Female cardiac patients are often unfamiliar with a lifestyle that includes exercise, and need to adopt lifestyle changes at their own pace. When pushed too quickly, or when expectations of adoption are too rapid, as is often the case in more generalized programs, women give up or become depressed, thus interfering with the progress of rehab. A women-only program addresses many of the barriers that lead to depression or non-participation in rehab programs, resulting in improved outcomes for female heart disease patients.

Addressing the onset of depression is particularly important in female cardiac patients, as depression is twice as likely to be diagnosed in women who are recovering from heart attack or heart disease than men with similar conditions.