Anxiety, helplessness/hopelessness and 'desire for hastened death' in Korean cancer patients

European Journal of Cancer Care

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 395-402

  Shim, E J ^a   Hahm, B J ^b,c  

^a Catholic University of Daegu   (South Korea)

^b Seoul National University College of Medicine   (South Korea)

^c Seoul National University   (South Korea)

Author keywords

Anxiety; Cancer; Desire for hastened death; Helplessness; Hopelessness

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ANXIETY; ARTICLE; ATTITUDE TO DEATH; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY; DEPRESSION; FEMALE; HUMAN; KOREA; MALE; MENTAL STRESS; MIDDLE AGED; MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS; NEOPLASM; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ANXIETY; ATTITUDE TO DEATH; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES; DEPRESSIVE DISORDER; FEMALE; HUMANS; KOREA; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS; NEOPLASMS; STRESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 79952754713     PISSN: 09615423     EISSN: 13652354     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2354.2010.01202.x     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Akechi T., Okuyama T., Sugawara Y., Nakano T., Shima Y. & Uchitomi Y. (2004) Suicidality in terminally ill Japanese patients with cancer. Cancer 100, 183-191.
2. Bjelland I., Dahl A.A., Haug T.T. & Neckelmann D. (2002) The validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. An updated literature review. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 52, 69-77.
3. Breitbart W. (2002) Spirituality and meaning in supportive care: spirituality- and meaning-centered group psychotherapy interventions in advanced cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer 10, 272-280.
4. Breitbart W., Rosenfeld B., Pessin H., Kaim M., Funesti-Esch J., Galietta M., Nelson C.J. & Brescia R. (2000) Depression, hopelessness, and desire for hastened death in terminally ill patients with cancer. JAMA 284, 2907-2911.
5. Chochinov H.M. & Wilson K.G. (1995) The euthanasia debate: attitudes, practices and psychiatric considerations. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 40, 593-602.
6. Chochinov H.M., Wilson K.G., Enns M. & Lander S. (1998) Depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation in the terminally ill. Psychosomatics 39, 366-370.
7. Chochinov H.M., Tataryn D., Clinch J.J. & Dudgeon D. (1999) Will to live in the terminally ill. Lancet 354, 816-819.
8. Chochinov H.M., Hack T., Hassard T., Kristjanson L.J., Mcclement S. & Harlos M. (2002) Dignity in the terminally ill: a cross-sectional, cohort study. Lancet 360, 2026-2030.
9. Hem E., Loge J.H., Haldorsen T. & Ekeberg O. (2004) Suicide risk in cancer patients from 1960 to 1999. Journal of Clinical Oncology 22, 4209-4216.
10. Jones J.M., Huggins M.A., Rydall A.C. & Rodin G.M. (2003) Symptomatic distress, hopelessness, and the desire for hastened death in hospitalized cancer patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 55, 411-418.
11. Kang J.I., Chung H.C., Kim S.J., Choi H.J., Ahn J.B., Jeung H.C. & Namkoong K. (2008) Standardization of the Korean version of Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (K-Mini-MAC) scale: factor structure, reliability and validity. Psychooncology 17, 592-597.
12. Kelly B., Burnett P., Badger S., Pelusi D., Varghese F.T. & Robertson M. (2003) Doctors and their patients: a context for understanding the wish to hasten death. Psychooncology 12, 375-384.
13. Kendal W.S. (2007) Suicide and cancer: a gender-comparative study. Annals of Oncology 18, 381-387.
14. Kerrihard T., Breitbart W., Dent R. & Strout D. (1999) Anxiety in patients with cancer and human immunodeficiency virus. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry 4, 114-132.
15. Kugaya A., Akechi T., Nakano T., Okamura H., Shima Y. & Uchitomi Y. (1999) Successful antidepressant treatment for five terminally ill cancer patients with major depression, suicidal ideation and a desire for death. Supportive Care in Cancer 7, 432-436.
16. Mcclain C.S., Rosenfeld B. & Breitbart W. (2003) Effect of spiritual well-being on end-of-life despair in terminally-ill cancer patients. Lancet 361, 1603-1607.
17. Misono S., Weiss N.S., Fann J.R., Redman M. & Yueh B. (2008) Incidence of suicide in persons with cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology 26, 4731-4738.
18. Morita T., Sakaguchi Y., Hirai K., Tsuneto S. & Shima Y. (2004) Desire for death and requests to hasten death of Japanese terminally ill cancer patients receiving specialized inpatient palliative care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 27, 44-52.
19. Mystakidou K., Rosenfeld B., Parpa E., Katsouda E., Tsilika E., Galanos A. & Vlahos L. (2005) Desire for death near the end of life: the role of depression, anxiety and pain. General Hospital Psychiatry 27, 258-262.
20. Mystakidou K., Parpa E., Katsouda E., Galanos A. & Vlahos L. (2006) The role of physical and psychological symptoms in desire for death: a study of terminally ill cancer patients. Psychooncology 15, 355-360.
21. Nock M.K., Hwang I., Sampson N., Kessler R.C., Angermeyer M., Beautrais A., Borges G., Bromet E., Bruffaerts R., De Girolamo G., De Graaf R., Florescu S., Gureje O., Haro J.M., Hu C., Huang Y., Karam E.G., Kawakami N., Kovess V., Levinson D., Posada-Villa J., Sagar R., Tomov T., Viana M.C. & Williams D.R. (2009) Cross-national analysis of the associations among mental disorders and suicidal behavior: findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. PLoS Medicine 6, e1000123.
22. OECD (2009) Health at a Glance 2009: OECD Indicators. OECD. Available at.
23. Office K.N.S. (2009) 2008 Cause of death statistics Korea Seoul.
24. Oh S. (2005) Insurance payment for the cancer patient who committed suicide due to suffering.
25. Oh S.M., Min K.J. & Park D.B. (1999) A study on the standardization of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for Koreans - a comparison of normal, depressed and anxious groups. Journal of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association 38, 289-296.
26. O'Mahony S., Goulet J., Kornblith A., Abbatiello G., Clarke B., Kless-Siegel S., Breitbart W. & Payne R. (2005) Desire for hastened death, cancer pain and depression: report of a longitudinal observational study. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 29, 446-457.
27. Owen C., Tennant C., Levi J. & Jones M. (1994) Cancer patients' attitudes to final events in life: wish for death, attitudes to cessation of treatment, suicide and euthanasia. Psychooncology 3, 1-9.
28. Park J.Y., Moon K.T., Chae Y.M. & Jung S.H. (2008) [Effect of sociodemographic factors, cancer, psychiatric disorder on suicide: gender and age-specific patterns]. Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 41, 51-60.
29. Peterman A.H., Fitchett G., Brady M.J., Hernandez L. & Cella D. (2002) Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy - Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp). Annals of Behavioral Medicine 24, 49-58.
30. Rasic D.T., Belik S.-L., Bolton J.M., Chochinov H.M. & Sareen J. (2008) Cancer, mental disorders, suicidal ideation and attempts in a large community sample. Psycho-Oncology 17, 660-667.
31. Rodin G., Zimmermann C., Rydall A., Jones J., Shepherd F.A., Moore M., Fruh M., Donner A. & Gagliese L. (2007) The desire for hastened death in patients with metastatic cancer. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 33, 661-675.
32. Rosenfeld B., Breitbart W., Stein K., Funesti-Esch J., Kaim M., Krivo S. & Galietta M. (1999) Measuring desire for death among patients with HIV/AIDS: the schedule of attitudes toward hastened death. The American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 94-100.
33. Rosenfeld B., Breitbart W., Galietta M., Kaim M., Funesti-Esch J., Pessin H., Nelson C.J. & Brescia R. (2000) The schedule of attitudes toward hastened death: measuring desire for death in terminally ill cancer patients. Cancer 88, 2868-2875.
34. Sareen J., Cox B.J., Afifi T.O., De Graaf R., Asmundson G.J., Ten Have M. & Stein M.B. (2005) Anxiety disorders and risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts: a population-based longitudinal study of adults. Archives of General Psychiatry 62, 1249-1257.
35. Schneider K.L. & Shenassa E. (2008) Correlates of suicide ideation in a population-based sample of cancer patients. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology 26, 49-62.
36. Seale C. & Addington-Hall J. (1994) Euthanasia: why people want to die earlier. Social Science and Medicine 39, 647-654.
37. Waern M., Rubenowitz E., Runeson B., Skoog I., Wilhelmson K. & Allebeck P. (2002) Burden of illness and suicide in elderly people: case-control study. British Medical Journal 324, 1355.
38. Walker J., Waters R.A., Murray G., Swanson H., Hibberd C.J., Rush R.W., Storey D.J., Strong V.A., Fallon M.T., Wall L.R. & Sharpe M. (2008) Better off dead: suicidal thoughts in cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology 26, 4725-4730.
39. Watson M., Greer S., Young J., Inayat Q., Burgess C. & Robertson B. (1988) Development of a questionnaire measure of adjustment to cancer: the MAC scale. Psychological Medicine 18, 203-209.
40. Weissman M.M., Bland R.C., Canino G.J., Greenwald S., Hwu H.G., Joyce P.R., Karam E.G., Lee C.K., Lellouch J., Lepine J.P., Newman S.C., Rubio-Stipec M., Wells J.E., Wickramaratne P.J., Wittchen H.U. & Yeh E.K. (1999) Prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide attempts in nine countries. Psychological Medicine 29, 9-17.
41. Wilson K.G., Chochinov H.M., Mcpherson C.J., Skirko M.G., Allard P., Chary S., Gagnon P.R., Macmillan K., De Luca M., O'Shea F., Kuhl D., Fainsinger R.L., Karam A.M. & Clinch J.J. (2007) Desire for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide in palliative cancer care. Health Psychology 26, 314-323.
42. Yun Y.H., Park Y.S., Lee E.S., Bang S.M., Heo D.S., Park S.Y., You C.H. & West K. (2004) Validation of the Korean version of the EORTC QLQ-C30. Quality of Life Research 13, 863-868.
43. Yun Y.H., Mendoza T.R., Kang I.O., You C.H., Roh J.W., Lee C.G., Lee W.S., Lee K.S., Bang S.M., Park S.M., Cleeland C.S. & Wang X.S. (2006) Validation study of the Korean version of the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 31, 345-352.
44. Zeller J.L. (2006) High suicide risk found for patients with head and neck cancer. JAMA 296, 1716-1717.
45. Zigmond A.S. & Snaith R.P. (1983) The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 67, 361-370.