Reference no: EM133532751

Assignment:

Overview

Begin by reading the following journal article from Current Directions in Psychological Science Biobehavioral pathways to cancer incidence, progression, and quality of life. Some students find journal articles more challenging to read and interpret than other types of reading due to the technical, scientific jargon. This article is relatively on the short side, but please don't hesitate to ask me questions or ask for help if you have trouble understanding parts of it, such as some of the terminology or statistics.

Instructions

Then, answer the following questions:

1. On the first page, the authors state: "There is some evidence to suggest that stress is associated with cancer incidence; however, the evidence is equivocal and primarily based on large epidemiological studies without examination of biological mechanisms" (Fagundes et al., 2017, p.548). They go on to give an example of a 2003 study. What is problematic with that 2003 study, and what would be needed in the research to have stronger evidence?
2. On the second page, the article discusses how there is stronger evidence for the role of psychological factors in cancer progression and survivorship than there is for cancer onset (Fagundes et al., 2017, p.548). In your own words, what does this mean, or what evidence do the researchers provide to support this statement?
3. Also, why do you think there is weaker evidence of psychological factors affecting cancer onset than there is for progression and survivorship? (There is more than one right answer to this final question, so think critically about the possibilities.)
4. The remainder of the article breaks down at least four different ways psychological factors impact cancer. Choose one and briefly summarize it in 3-4 sentences.
5. After reading this article, what kinds of things can be done to change or improve psychological factors that can have an effect on cancer? If you were in charge of a large grant targeting psychological interventions to improve cancer outcomes, what would you set as the priority? (for example, stress reduction for particular cancer patients? other psychological factors for at-risk individuals? some other idea? Be creative!). Be sure to explain why you think the factors you identified are the highest priority.