Funaki Yuka

This study aims to review the research conducted on cancer patients psychological adaptation to recommend topics for future studies. Since being reported by the research in 1983, the state of psychological adaptation to the cancer has not substantially changed to date. The concept of stress management changed the vulnerable image of cancer patients from the 1970s, when the study of cancer patients began emphasizing the patients strength. The concept of "Meaning" was adopted in the 1990s and thereafter. After searching for meaning, cancer patients reconstruct their self-concepts, give them meaning and then adapt to the new self management of their disease. The process of searching for meaning has been identified in Japan, with results corresponding to those of previous research in Europe and America. The research on cancer patients searching for meaning in Europe and America has evolved to studies on related factors and interventions. In the future, Japan should proceed with similar research.

This study is one of a series of studies that examine burnout among nurses and its relevance to the organizational climate. It focuses on the head nurse from the viewpoint of the organizational climate. A total of 540 nurses responded to the questionnaires. Factor analysis was used to extract the following two factors: (1) the head nurses consideration for staff nurses and (2) her positive and challenging attitude to nursing. There was a significant difference with regard to the two subscales on the scale to measure the head nurse as recognized by the wards. The results regarding the experienced age group revealed a mild relation between the two subscales of the head nurse as recognized by the members of her team and the personal achievement of the "mid-level nurse layer." The importance of the head nurses role in developing the "nurse layer" was also indicated. With regard to the "young nurse layer," the head nurse as recognized by the members of her team was the most affirmatively evaluated aspect of this study. The head nurses consideration for staff nurses was observed to affect the suppressed depersonalization and emotional exhaustion of the "novice nurse layer."