Diet and physical activity behaviors: how are they related to illness perceptions, coping, and health-related quality of life in young people with hereditary cancer syndromes?

Individuals with inherited cancer syndromes, such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), may be motivated to adopt health-protective behaviors, such as eating more fruits and vegetables and increasing physical activity. Examining these health behaviors among young people with high lifetime genetic cancer risk may provide important insights to guide future behavioral interventions that aim to improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL). We used a self-regulatory framework to investigate relationships among diet and physical activity behaviors and psychosocial constructs (e.g., illness perceptions, coping, HRQOL) in adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 15-39 years) with LFS. This longitudinal mixed-methods study included 57 AYAs aged 16-39 years at enrollment), 32 (56%) of whom had a history of one or more cancers. Participants completed one or two telephone interviews and/or an online survey. We thematically analyzed interview data and conducted regression analyses to evaluate relationships among variables. AYAs described adopting healthy diet and physical activity behaviors to assert some control over health and to protect HRQOL. More frequent use of active coping strategies was associated with greater reported daily fruit and vegetable intake. Greater reported physical activity was associated with better quality of psychological health. Healthy diet and physical activity behaviors may function as LFS coping strategies that confer mental health benefits. Clinicians might emphasize these potential benefits and support AYAs in adopting health behaviors that protect multiple domains of health. Future research could use these findings to develop behavioral interventions tailored to AYAs with high genetic cancer risk.

How do young people with a hereditary cancer predisposition syndrome understand and experience cancer survivorship? "With Li-Fraumeni syndrome, it's just an intermission"

OBJECTIVES

Adolescents and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors face unique medical and psychosocial sequalae, including chronic health conditions, late effects of treatment and fear of recurrence. The meaning of cancer survivorship may be further complicated for AYAs with hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes. This study used a patient-centered framework to investigate how AYAs with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) consider cancer survivorship.

METHODS

An interprofessional team conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with AYAs (aged 18-41, mean 31 years) enrolled in the National Cancer Institute's LFS Study (NCT01443468). Twenty had experienced at least one cancer diagnosis. Interview data were thematically analyzed by an inter-professional team using interpretive description and grounded theory methods.

FINDINGS

Participants viewed "survivorship" as a period marked by no evidence of formerly diagnosed disease. By contrast, participants felt the label "survivor" was tenuous since LFS is characterized by multiple primary malignancies and uncertainty about intervals between one diagnosis and the next. Many AYAs viewed survivorship as requiring a high degree of suffering. Though many personally rejected "survivor" identities, almost all articulated its various functions including positive, negative, and more complicated connotations. Instead, they chose language to represent a range of beliefs about survival, longevity, prognosis, and activism.

CONCLUSIONS

AYAs with LFS struggle with the term "survivor" due to their multi-organ cancer risk, short intervals between malignancies, and evolving identities. Loved ones' cancer-related suffering informed perspectives on survivorship. Survivorship care for AYAs with cancer risk syndromes requires interprofessional interventions that address their unique biomedical and psychosocial needs.

Family communication challenges of adolescents and young adults with Li-Fraumeni syndrome: Implications for psychosocial care

OBJECTIVES

This qualitative-descriptive study explored adolescent and young adult (AYA) perspectives, experiences, and challenges with openness and closedness in family communication about Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS).

METHODS

We conducted interviews with AYAs (aged 15-39 years) with LFS enrolled in the National Cancer Institute's LFS study (NCT01443468). An interprofessional clinician-researcher team analyzed transcribed data using the constant comparative method and interpretive description.

RESULTS

AYAs (N = 38; 26 females, 12 males, mean age=29 years) reported navigating openness and closedness about LFS in their families, which varied by LFS topic, relationship, disease trajectory, and developmental phase. AYAs described communication challenges, including broaching difficult topics (e.g., reproductive decision-making, end-of-life), balancing information-sharing with emotionally protecting family and self, and struggling with interactions that cause relational tensions.

CONCLUSIONS

AYAs reported experiencing LFS family communication challenges that disrupted their psychosocial well-being. LFS-related stressors and life transitions complicated and were complicated by these challenging family interactions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Clinicians may support AYAs with LFS by inquiring about family communication, responding empathically to communication concerns, providing resources to support difficult conversations, and engaging mental health providers as needed. Researchers could partner with AYAs to develop tailored communication skills training and social support tools.

Embodied risk for families with Li-Fraumeni syndrome: Like electricity through my body

INTRODUCTION

Experiences of illness change the physical body and embodiments, or the ways in which the world and the self are known through the body. When illness is anticipated, such as with inherited cancer predisposition syndromes, risk becomes embodied and shared in family groups. Embodied risk is experienced whether or not symptoms have manifested. To examine how individuals and families with genetic risk experience the world and understand their disease through their bodies, we employ Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) as an exemplar. LFS is a rare, genetic, cancer predisposition syndrome with nearly 100% lifetime cancer risk starting from birth, limited opportunities for prevention, rigorous screening protocols, and early mortality.

METHODS

Forty-five families, including 117 individuals aged 13-81 years, enrolled in the National Cancer Insitute's LFS study (NCT01443468) completed 66 open-ended interviews regarding LFS experiences. An interdisciplinary team used modified grounded theory to explore physical aspects of living with LFS in psychosocial contexts.

FINDINGS

The physicality of living with LFS included constant monitoring of LFS bodies across the family to identify physical change that might indicate carcinogenesis. Cancer screening, risk reduction, and treatment acted as dually protective and invasive, and as an unavoidable features of LFS. Connections between family members with similar embodiments normalized aesthetic changes and supported coping with visible markers of difference. In some circumstances, participants objectified the body to preserve the self and important relationships. In others, intense pain or loss created thresholds beyond which the self could no longer be separated from the body to support coping.

DISCUSSION

This paper focuses on Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a familial condition with a well-established genetic identity in which the body-self is experienced in relation to important others, to medical imaging, and to historical experiences with cancer. We expand on theories of embodied risk and inter-embodiment to describe experiences across disease trajectories, with attention to division and union between body, self, and other.

Family Identity and Roles in the Context of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome: "No One's Like Us Mutants"

Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a rare hereditary cancer syndrome in which individuals have a significantly increased risk of developing multiple cancers throughout the life span. An LFS diagnosis may shift the individual's sense of self and tolerance of cancer risk as they engage in cancer screening and cancer prevention activities. This study examined the impact of family identity on health decision making, communication, and role function. Forty-five families completed one or more interviews during an annual, protocol-specific cancer screening study. An interdisciplinary team analyzed 66 interviews using interpretive description and modified grounding theory. Thematically, identity emerged as an evolving construct regarding self and/or family, embedded in historical and ongoing experiences with LFS. Notions of individual and shared family identities guided decision making related to healthcare and influenced interpersonal communication and role function between supportive networks and families. Alignment between individual, family, and generational identities may shape engagement in genetic testing, risk management, and family life. Medical teams that are unequipped to address the psychosocial challenges that LFS populations face may include mental health professionals on interprofessional care teams to navigate risk management and consequential familial conflict.

Waiting and "weighted down": the challenge of anticipatory loss for individuals and families with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome

Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS) is characterized by risk of multiple primary malignancies in diverse sites, pediatric onset, near complete penetrance by age 70 years, limited options for prevention, and substantial uncertainty regarding disease manifestation and prognosis. Forty-five families, including 117 individuals aged 13-81 years, enrolled in the US National Cancer Institute's Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Study completed 66 interviews regarding their LFS experiences. An interdisciplinary team used modified grounded theory to examine family distress regarding expectations of loss and change due to likely cancer diagnoses, and the consequences of this likelihood across physical, social, and emotional domains. Disease-free periods were characterized by fearful anticipation of diagnosis or recurrence, uncertainty regarding post-treatment quality of life, and planning for shifts in family dynamics to enable caregiving. The chronicity of waiting for these changes incited dread and inhibited effective coping with the pragmatic, emotional, and existential challenges of the syndrome. Consequently, families reported high burden on roles and resources and limited guidance to prepare for, or achieve resolution with, grief. Anticipatory loss, the experience of bereavement prior to an expected change, distinguishes hereditary cancer risk from a sporadic diagnosis. Such grief is often incomplete in impact or meaning, subjected to rapid or profound change as conditions worsen, and poorly understood. In this study, losses were compounded by profound uncertainty, a chronic feature of LFS, which compromised mourning. Long-term engagement of mental health providers with bereavement training, in partnership with genetics providers, can provide invaluable educational and psychological support to families as they navigate these implacable challenges.

"It's All about Breaking down Those Barriers…": Exploring Survivors' Perspectives on Services and Treatment Needs following Commercial Sexual Exploitation during Childhood

Purpose: In recent years, there has been an increase in funds and services available to address the needs of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC). While previous studies have explored the mental, behavioral, and physical needs of CSEC victims and survivors, few studies have focused on the service needs CSEC victims and survivors themselves deem most important. The current study seeks to bridge this gap by garnering American CSEC victims' and survivors' perspectives regarding CSEC service strengths, weaknesses, and gaps.Method: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 adult survivors of CSEC to examine their perceptions of current CSEC services in the United States. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and imported into a qualitative data analysis program. Using an inductive approach, two major themes emerged: short-term needs and long-term needs.Results: Short-term needs included victim identification, housing, and emergency medical care. Long-term needs included life-skills, community building, legal assistance, and medical care. The results point to the complex needs of CSEC victims/survivors.Discussion: While CSEC services continue to develop, there remain many gaps in care in the services available. Study findings provide valuable insight to practitioners and researchers alike and identify the most critical needs of CSEC victims and survivors. Implications for practice and research are discussed.