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Introduction
Dr. Cristian Ochoa is a clinical psychologist, expert in Psycho-oncology in Catalan Institute of Oncology where he is the Chief of Digital health Program.
He is also Associate (permanent) Professor in University of Barcelona. Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology Department.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
November 2004 - May 2016
May 2001 - May 2004
Position
- Coordinator
Publications
Publications (87)
There is increasing evidence that positive life changes, such as posttraumatic growth (PTG), can result from the experience of coping with cancer. However, no interventions have been specifically designed to facilitate the development of PTG in cancer. In this article, we describe and assess the results of Positive Psychotherapy for Cancer (PPC) su...
Background
Action mechanisms of therapeutic alliance in stepped and digital interventions remain unclear.
Aims
(a) To compare the development of therapeutic alliance between psychosocial treatment as usual (PTAU) and a stepped digital intervention designed to prevent distress in cancer patients; (b) to analyse the level of agreement between patien...
Objectives
Breast cancer (BC) impacts the patients’ quality of life. Peer support can provide emotional understanding and enhances access to information, social support, coping strategies, and empowerment. Comunitats is an online peer support community app for BC survivors that involves healthcare professionals. This study aims to explore how parti...
Introduction
Breast cancer often leads to cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), which includes both objective and subjective cognitive deficits. While psychosocial interventions benefit quality of life and distress reduction, their impact on cognitive deficits is uncertain. This study evaluates the integration of a cognitive module into a dig...
Objectives: Breast cancer (BC) impacts the patient’s quality of life. Peer support can provide emotional understanding as well as enhance information access, social support, and coping strategies, aligning with empowerment. Comunitats is an online peer support community addressed to BC survivors, involving healthcare professionals. This study aims...
Background
Patients with hematological malignancies receiving hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy are at risk of developing serious clinical complications after discharge.
Objective
The aim of the TEL-HEMATO study was to improve our telehealth platform for the follow-up of patients undergoing...
BACKGROUND
Patients with hematological malignancies receiving hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy are at risk of developing serious clinical complications after discharge.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the TEL-HEMATO study was to improve our telehealth platform for the follow-up of patients undergoing...
Breast cancer is associated with adverse physical and psychological consequences. Although research has identified the various benefits linked to psychosocial interventions, mixed results have been found in relation to peer support. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-ethnography is to explore the qualitative evidence on the experienc...
Background:
Receiving a diagnosis of lung cancer is an emotional event, not least because it is usually diagnosed at advanced stages with limited life expectancy. Although evidence-based educational, emotional, and social interventions exist, they reach few patients and usually when it is too late.
Objective:
This project will be carried out in...
Objective
To evaluate, using an online non-probability sample, the beliefs about and attitudes towards cancer prevention of people professing vaccination scepticism or conspiracy theories.
Design
Cross sectional survey.
Setting
Data collected mainly from ForoCoches (a well known Spanish forum) and other platforms, including Reddit (English), 4Cha...
Health education and psychosocial interventions prevent emotional distress, and the latter has been shown to have an impact on survival. In turn, digital health education interventions may help promote equity by reaching a higher number of cancer patients, both because they avoid journeys to the hospital, by and having a better efficiency. A total...
Background/Objective
Environmental factors such as psychosocial stress have demonstrated to have an impact on the breast cancer (BC) course. This study aims to explore the impact of psychotherapy and stressful life events (SLE) on BC survivors’ illness trajectories.
Method
68 women with BC underwent Positive Psychotherapy or Cognitive-Behavioral S...
Psychosocial interventions prevent emotional distress and facilitate adaptation in breast cancer (BC). However, conventional care presents accessibility barriers that eHealth has the potential to overcome. ICOnnecta’t is a stepped digital ecosystem designed to build wellbeing and reduce psychosocial risks during the cancer journey through a Europea...
Declaración de Conflicto de intereses: Cabe señalar que el contenido del manuscrito y los datos de este trabajo no han sido publicados previamente, ni tampoco están siendo considerados en otra revista. ABSTRACT Introduction: After the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, health services have had to adapt to be delivered by eHealth tools. Cancer po...
Introduction Psychosocial interventions for patients with breast cancer (BC) have demonstrated their effectiveness at reducing emotional distress and improving quality of life. The current digitisation of screening, monitoring and psychosocial treatment presents the opportunity for a revolution that could improve the quality of care and reduce its...
Introducción: La atención psicosocial de las personas con enfermedad oncológica y la familia debe formar parte de todo modelo integral de atención que pretenda reducir el impacto vital del cáncer. Las intervenciones psicosociales han probado su eficacia en la ayuda a pacientes y familiares para afrontar las situaciones de alta complejidad psicosoci...
UNSTRUCTURED
Patients receiving hematopoietic cell transplantation are at increased risk of infectious complications. A higher mortality was shown for these patients affected by COVID19. In this prospective study, we developed and tested a telemedicine platform to improve the domiciliary follow-up of patients who had received a transplant. Daily mo...
Background:
Patients who have recently received hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) are at higher risk of acute complications in the first weeks after discharge, especially during the COVID19 pandemic.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to test the use of a telehealth platform for the follow-up of transplanted patients during the first 2 weeks...
Introduction
An increased risk of mortality has been documented in transplanted patients affected by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) with an estimated mortality rate between 20-40%. Multiple efforts are ongoing to control COVID19 pandemic, and clinical practice is being adapted at the same time as the pandemic progresses around the world. To red...
Objective
To study the impact of the spontaneous use of Internet on breast cancer patients and on their relationship with health professionals.MethodsA mixed methodology was used. Two questionnaires were designed through three focus groups, and then administered to 186 patients and 59 professionals in order to assess: (1) patients’ use of Internet...
Objective
Cancer is one of the biggest health challenges of our times, affecting all the personal areas of a patient. The interrelationships between these areas and the need for multidisciplinary care require the assessment of psychosocial complexity in cancer patients. The main aim of this study was to reach a consensus on the general definition o...
Objective
This study assesses the effectiveness of face‐to‐face group positive psychotherapy for cancer survivors (PPC) compared to its online adaptation, online group positive psychotherapy for cancer survivors (OPPC), which is held via videoconference. A two‐arm, pragmatic RCT was conducted to examine the effects of both interventions on emotiona...
Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) diagnosis in young women negatively impacts on quality of life (QoL) and daily activities, disrupting their life project and forcing them to face new psychosocial challenges. The recently published results on the improvement of the overall survival of pre- or perimenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-n...
This randomized controlled trial compared the efficacy of cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) and positive psychotherapy in cancer (PPC) to reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and distress, and to promote post-traumatic growth (PTG) in cancer survivors. Participants were 140 adult women randomly allocated to CBSM (n = 73) or PPC...
Background: The therapeutic role of humor and hospital clowns has become a focus of interest in recent decades. Most of the research in the area has focused on children; here, we explore the influence of clown performances on adult cancer patients, their companions, and health-care staff.
Methods: Ninety-nine cancer patients and 113 companions were...
Introducción: A pesar de que los tratamientos psico-oncológicos han demostrado su efectividad en disminuir el malestar emocional y mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas con cáncer, aún existen numerosas barreras que limitan su acceso. La transformación a online de esta atención se plantea como una solución para aumentar la cobertura del servic...
Background and aim
To assess emotional distress and complexity of patients referred to the Psychosocial Committee.
Material and methods
A pre-post single group study was performed in a sample of oncological patients. From the 144 patients referred to the committee, 27 were attended by psychosocial specialists. The patients’ levels of emotional dis...
Objectives
Online resources are changing patient‐professional relationship and care delivery by empowering patients to engage in decisions in order to cope with their illness and modify behaviors. This review analyses the psychological factors associated with spontaneous and health professional–guided internet use in cancer patients.
Methods
Searc...
Resumen
Antecedentes y objetivo
Evaluar el malestar emocional y el nivel de complejidad de pacientes presentados al Comité de Atención Psicosocial.
Materiales y métodos
Estudio pre-post con un solo grupo en pacientes con cáncer. De los 144 pacientes, 27 fueron derivados por el comité a especialistas del área psicosocial, y sus niveles de malestar...
Post-traumatic stress and growth are common responses to adverse life events such as cancer. In this article, we establish how cancer becomes a “fertile land” for the emergence of stress and growth responses and analyze the main mechanisms involved. Stress-growth responses on adjusting to cancer is potentially determined by factors like the phase o...
Objective
Changes perceived as both positive (e.g., post‐traumatic growth [PTG]) and negative (e.g. post‐traumatic stress symptoms [PTSS]) have been associated with intensive internet use among breast cancer survivors. In this multi‐center study, we analyzed the role of PTG and PTSS on the amount of time spent looking for online cancer information,...
In Europe, the problem of homelessness far from disappearing has increased. Europe faces the ambivalence of treasuring within its borders the best examples of welfare states and while contemplating how social inequalities are accentuated and the shortage of roof and work are perpetuated.
Moreover, interest in palliative care and a dignified death,...
RESUMEN
La aparición de Internet y la generalización de su uso a partir de la década de los noventa han transformado la red en una de las principales fuentes de información sanitaria, especialmente en el ámbito oncológico. En la literatura científica y en nuestro actual contexto sociocultural se cuestiona si esta facilitación del acceso a informaci...
Objective:
To describe major findings on posttraumatic growth (PTG) in cancer, by analyzing its various definitions, assessment tools, and examining its main psychological and clinical correlates. Methods A search in relevant databases (PsycINFO, Pubmed, ProQuest, Scopus and Web of Science) was performed using descriptors related to the positive r...
Background/Objective
There is increasing evidence that positive life changes, such as posttraumatic growth (PTG), can result from the experience of coping with cancer. However, no interventions have been specifically designed to facilitate the development of PTG in cancer. In this article, we describe and assess the results of Positive Psychotherap...
Over the last decades, Positive Psychology (PP) has promoted the scientific study of positive life changes in the aftermath of
cancer. These have been integrated within negative life changes, based on the same human experience framework. Innovative
interventions have been designed, prioritizing the pathways to the reduction of emotional distress an...
Introduction:
Addictions are associated with decision making impairments. The present study explores decision making in Substance use disorder (SUD), Gambling disorder (GD) and Obesity (OB) when assessed by Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and compares them with healthy controls (HC).
Methods:
For the aims of this study, 591 participants (194 HC, 178 GD...
Having an inherited predisposition to cancer may have a psychological impact, and one goal of genetic counselling is to promote psychological adjustment to the new situation. Thus, in the genetic context, validated measures of adjustment are required. Given that self-concept is a good indicator of adjustment to the disease or to the risk for it, an...
This integrative review aimed to analyze the research into positive psychological functioning after breast cancer, and to integrate the most relevant findings relating to sociodemographic, medical and psychosocial factors. Relevant outcomes were identified from electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL, and W...
Background and objective:
Having an inherited predisposition to cancer may have a psychological impact, and one goal of genetic counseling is to promote psychological adjustment to the new situation. Thus, in the genetic context, validated measures of adjustment are required. Given that self-concept is a good indicator of adjustment to the disease...
Serious and life-threatening illnesses like cancer produce stress symptoms in patients. However, the disease also has an impact on significant others in the patient’s life. This is now recognized in the literature, and alongside research on survivors’ growth from adversity, increasing attention is being paid to growth among significant others. This...
Being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing subsequent treatment can produce high levels of distress among patients. Several psychotherapeutic approaches have sought to help cancer patients manage these negative impacts. In addition, however, there is now increasing evidence regarding the collateral positive outcomes of the cancer experience, it bei...
En esta revisión nos proponemos realizar una actualización acerca de tres aspectos que son
objeto de interés y/o controversia en el campo de las adicciones en Oncología. En primer lugar nos centraremos en el papel del consumo de sustancias como factor de riesgo tanto en el desarrollo como en la evolución del cáncer. En el momento actual existen dat...
El impacto vital de estas enfermedades incluye asimilar un mal pronóstico y una perspectiva vital limitada, arduos tratamientos, el manejo de síntomas complejos como el dolor, la falta de control y autonomía (dependencia) y las dificultades en la comunicación y relación con los seres queridos respecto a la enfermedad y la muerte. Todos estos retos...
La Psicoterapia Positiva (PP) es el empeño terapéutico dentro de la Psicología positiva de ampliar el ámbito tradicional de la psicoterapia. Su premisa central es potenciar el foco de la intervención en los recursos positivos de las personas, como son las emociones positivas, las fortalezas y los significados personales (incluyendo los existenciale...
Like drug addiction, pathological gambling (PG) has been associated with impairments in executive functions and alterations in dopaminergic functioning; however, the role of dopamine (DA) in the executive profile of PG remains unclear. The aim of this study was to identify whether the DRD2/ANKK1 Taq1A-rs1800497 and the DAT1-40 bp VNTR polymorphisms...
A variety of cognitive and emotional processes influence the decision-making deficits observed in pathological gambling (PG). This study investigated the role of immediate/delayed sensitivity to reward and punishment, executive functions, impulsivity and explicit knowledge in relation to decision-making performance on the original Iowa Gambling Tas...
The oncology universe apparently is an area of deep consensus; alleviate the suffering of patients and families, the search for an effective cure or eradicate the stigma associated with the diagnosis are objectives that generate broad societal agreement. From a cultural perspective, however, we note the presence of certain areas of tension and diss...
Resumen Las enfermedades graves como el cáncer, aunque generan elevado malestar emocional y estrés en los super-vivientes y en sus otros signiicativos, también pueden suponer un estímulo en la generación de crecimiento postraumático en ambos. Los mecanismos de cómo se produce este crecimiento postraumático (vicario vs. secundario) en los otros sign...
Severe diseases such as cancer although generate high stress and emotional distress in survivors and their significant others, can also be a stimulus to promote posttraumatic growth. The mechanisms of this post-traumatic growth (vicarious vs secondary) in significant others have not been studied. This review examines the evidence and relationship b...
Resumen Las enfermedades graves como el cáncer, aunque generan elevado malestar emocional y estrés en los super-vivientes y en sus otros significativos, también pueden suponer un estímulo en la generación de crecimiento postraumático en ambos. Los mecanismos de cómo se produce este crecimiento postraumático (vicario vs. secundario) en los otros sig...
ADVERTIMENT. La consulta d'aquesta tesi queda condicionada a l'acceptació de les següents condicions d'ús: La difusió d'aquesta tesi per mitjà del servei TDX (www.tdx.cat) ha estat autoritzada pels titulars dels drets de propietat intel·lectual únicament per a usos privats emmarcats en activitats d'investigació i docència. No s'autoritza la seva re...
This chapter examines whether the connection between psychological growth and trauma is universal or linked to a specific cultural viewpoint. The concept of post-traumatic growth (PTG) is examined in relation to psychological distress and well-being in various cultural settings. Finally, recommendations on how to stimulate growth processes through...
Resumen: El cáncer de mama como enfermedad local y curable mediante cirugía ha sido sustituido por una construcción biomé-dica en la que priman las concepciones sistémicas y la necesidad de mayor control. Los deseos y esfuerzos de restitución, el volver a ser la que una era antes de enfermar, manifestados por una parte significativa de las paciente...
Introduction: Both patients and their families have physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs to be assessed. Such needs have to be recorded so as to be able to set the therapeutic objectives, the outcomes review, and their further reassessment. The evaluation of these needs using common tools makes it easier to communicate information among...
Impairments in self-regulatory behaviour reflect a deficit in executive functioning and decision-making, as well as higher levels of self-reported impulsivity, and may be involved in the development and maintenance of addictive disorders. We sought to explore the association between self-reported impulsivity and neurocognitive measures, and their a...
Este artículo ha sido retirado de la revista por haberse duplicado accidentalmente su publica-ción. De manera involuntaria había sido previamente publicado en Med Paliat. 2010;17(6):348-59. Como consecuencia, las páginas <92-104> ocupadas por este artículo faltan de la publicación on-line. El editor lamenta las molestias que esto puede causar.
Objetivo: Las enfermedades graves como el cáncer pueden vivirse como experiencias traumáticas y/o como impulso para realizar cambios vitales positivos (ej. crecimiento pos- traumático). El programa de psicoterapia posi- tiva grupal para supervivientes de cáncer que realizamos integra ambos elementos, trauma y crecimiento. Los objetivos del programa...
Objetivo: Las enfermedades graves como el cáncer pueden vivirse como experiencias traumáticas y/o como impulso para realizar cambios vitales positivos (ej. crecimiento postraumático).
El programa de psicoterapia positiva grupal para supervivientes de cáncer que realizamos integra ambos elementos, trauma y crecimiento. Los objetivos del programa no...
Introduction: both Patients and their families have physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs to be assessed. Such needs have to be recorded so as to allow the setting of therapeutic objectives, the outcomes review and their further reassessment. Needs' assessment undergone with common tools, facilitates information transmission among the wid...
Along the history of the psico-oncology the concepts of personality and identity of the oncology patients have been used for explaining both the development of the disease and the personal changes induced by the disease. After analyzing the socio-cognitive theories of Janoff-Bulman and Tedeschi and Calhoun about the phenomenon known as post-traumat...
Along the history of the psico-oncology the concepts of personality and identity of the oncology patients have been used for explaining both the development of the disease and the personal changes induced by the disease. After analyzing the socio-cognitive theories of Janoff-Bulman and Tedeschi and Calhoun about the phenomenon known as post-traumat...
Shared vulnerabilities have been described across disorders of impulse control, including pathological gambling (PG) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Our aim was to compare the executive functioning of PG and BN females in order to confirm their similarity at a neurocognitive level. A total of 15 BN females, 15 PG females, and 15 healthy control (HC) fema...
E n el estudio del impacto vital del cáncer, como en otras situaciones extremas, se ha enfatizado la pre-sencia de malestar emocional y psicopa-tología asociada, en detrimento del estudio de los cambios positivos que informan las personas que afrontan una enfermedad grave. El auge y creciente interés en lo que se ha llamado Psicolo-gía Positiva, de...
Els estudis revisats s'han focalitzat en dos temes d'especial rellevància dintre de l'àmbit de la psico-oncologia: els tractaments psicològics i el creixement posttraumàtic en càncer. Tractaments psicològics Intervencions psicològiques i millora de la supervivència en càncer Les prestigioses bases de dades Cochrane publiquen online al 2008 les dade...
Research in posttraumatic growth (PTG) among cancer patients has been triggered primarily by the inclusion of serious illnesses among the events that can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); increasing survival rates among cancer patients; and, attempts at encouraging a positive psychology that focuses on a patient's ability to fight adver...
Resumen En el presente estudio ha sido utilizado un diseño de línea base (A-B) con conductas múltiples para evaluar la efectividad de un procedimiento de exposi-ción in-vivo con prevención de respuesta (EPR) en un caso de obsesiones intesti-nales (OI) en un varón con 19 años. Los objetivos que se buscan con el presente caso clínico son tanto descri...
In this study, a baseline design (A-B) with multiple behaviors was applied to assess the effectiveness of exposure plus response prevention (ERP) techniques for approaching a case of bowel obsession (BO) in a 19 year-old male. The aim of describing this single case was twofold: to report on a functional analysis of this mental disorder and to asses...
