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Psycho-oncology

Guest Editors

Luigi Grassi, MD, MPhil, University of Ferrara, Italy
Daniel McFarland, DO, MS, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA
Michelle Riba, MD, MS, University of Michigan, USA

BMC Psychiatry welcomed submissions for the Collection on Psycho-Oncology. This Collection was interested in all submissions on the psychological, social, behavioral, and ethical aspects of cancer. 




New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Wellbeing.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Luigi Grassi, MD, MPhil, University of Ferrara, Italy

Dr Luigi Grassi is a Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Dean of the Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation at the University of Ferrara. He also serves as Chief of the University Integrated Unit of Hospital Psychiatry at S. Anna University Hospital and Health Trust.

Dr Grassi has served as the President of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) and of the International Federation of the Psycho-Oncology Societies.

His clinical and research activity regards psycho-oncology, consultation-liaison psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and psychosocial rehabilitation in psychiatry. He is author of about 200 scientific papers, book chapters, and books for Oxford University Press, Wiley and Springer.
 

Daniel McFarland, DO, MS, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA

Dr Daniel McFarland is the Director of Psycho-Oncology and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Division of Hematology/oncology at the University of Rochester/Wilmot Cancer Center. 

Dr McFarland completed a combined internal medicine/psychiatry residency at Rush University Medical Center followed by fellowship in hematology/medical oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital. He is trained in consultation-liaison clinical with a fellowship from memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His research interests include communication, doctor-patient relationship, ethics, and physician wellbeing.
 

Michelle Riba, MD, MS, University of Michigan, USA

Dr Michelle Riba is a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the PsychOncology Program at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center.

Dr Riba serves as the Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Guidelines and Co-Chair of the World Psychiatric Association's section on PsychOncology and Palliative Care. She also serves as the Editor-in-Chief and Section Editor for Complex Medical and Psychiatric Issues of Current Psychiatry Reports, published by Springer.

About the Collection

BMC Psychiatry welcomed submissions for the Collection on Psycho-oncology.

This Collection was interested in all submissions on the psychological, social, behavioral, and ethical aspects of cancer. This included the psychological responses and the possible psychopathological dimensions secondary to cancer among patients in all stages of the disease and the effects cancer has on the patients’ families and caretakers; the implementation of  standardized policy for optimal psychosocial care in oncology and palliative care; the psychological, social, and behavioral factors that influence the disease process; burnout and other distress dimensions in cancer care professionals.

Topics of interest included but were not limited to:

  • Psychosocial dimensions of cancer
  • Cancer and serious mental illness
  • Trust in oncology
  • Issues in palliative care and cancer
  • Survivorship and distress
  • Impact of cancer care among health professionals 

We welcomed contributions from theoretical, qualitative, and quantitative perspectives.

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

Image credit: romaset / stock.adobe.com

  1. It is well known that social rehabilitation is an important part of the overall recovery of breast cancer survivors. Previous research has demonstrated that social anxiety is prevalent among breast cancer surv...

    Authors: Xiaofeng Chen, Chen Dong, Yuan Zhuang, Lihua Lu, Ping Lu, Yiju Li, Zhifeng Gu and Chen Shen
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:389
  2. Immunotherapy has significantly improved the survival rates of lung cancer patients. However, prevalent adverse immune reactions associated with this treatment can detrimentally affect their quality of life. C...

    Authors: Xuying Yang, Jingcui Bai and Xiaohong Zhang
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:322
  3. This feasibility study evaluated adherence and effectiveness to a digital multimodal intervention (cognitive and physical training) for cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) in patients with breast cancer.

    Authors: Giulia Binarelli, Florence Joly, François Christy, Bénédicte Clarisse and Marie Lange
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:249
  4. This study investigated the relationship between fragmented care (patient care provided at multiple hospitals) and incident mood disorders in elderly colorectal cancer patients. Fragmented care was defined as ...

    Authors: Woo-Ri Lee, Kyu-Tae Han and Woorim Kim
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:208
  5. Although social withdrawal is common among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors with permanent stomas, it has been poorly addressed due to a lack of valid assessment tools. The social withdrawal subscale (SWS) fr...

    Authors: Guopeng Li, Xudong He, Qi Yao and Xiaoling Dong
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:202
  6. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women globally. The cases of breast cancer have continued to rise in Nigeria and surgery remains one of th...

    Authors: Ayodeji A. Bioku, Jummai D. Jimeta-Tuko, Paige Harris, Bonnie Lu, Adenike Kareem, Foluke O. Sarimiye, Olubukola F. Kolawole, Obiora E. Onwuameze, Britta K. Ostermeyer and Andrew Toyin Olagunju
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:180
  7. To evaluate the psychological status of early-stage breast cancer outpatients using the Kessler 10 Scale (K10) and to determine the feasibility of employing the K10 scale for psychological assessment in outpat...

    Authors: Zhaoju Zhou, Jing Yuan, Ying Zhang, Ping Wu and Wenjie Lv
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:136
  8. This study aimed to investigate the depression situation and the mediating role of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) in the relationship between financial toxicity and depression in young breast cancer (BC) pati...

    Authors: Tianye Yang, Zhu Zhu, Jianjun Shi, Lingling Tong, Jia Yang, Songli Mei and Hui Ren
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:97
  9. The impact of childhood cancer extends beyond the affected child, significantly influencing the mental health of their families. Since research in psycho-oncology has been carried out almost exclusively in hig...

    Authors: Hawkar Ibrahim, Azad Ali Ismail, Narin Ahmed Rahim, Benjamin Iffland and Frank Neuner
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:42
  10. Breast cancer, as a stressful event, profoundly impacts the entire family, especially patients and their spouses. This study used a dyadic analysis approach to explore the dyadic effects of illness perception ...

    Authors: Hui Ren, Tianye Yang, Songli Mei, Zhu Zhu, Jianjun Shi, Lingling Tong, Jia Yang and Yabin Sun
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2025 25:41
  11. Breast cancer (BC) survivorship presents significant health disparities, particularly affecting Black women, who experience a 40% higher BC death rate compared to White women. These disparities are exacerbated...

    Authors: Lakeshia Cousin, Dejana Braithwaite, Stephen Anton, Zhongyue Zhang, Ji-Hyun Lee, Christiaan Leewenburgh and Debra Lyon
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2024 24:931
  12. Postoperative and ongoing treatment of breast cancer is traumatic to women with breast cancer and may lead to positive and negative psychological diseases, which can affect the prognosis of patients with breas...

    Authors: Jin Zhao, De-Shuang Yang, Yi-Qi Liu, Yan-Kun Wu, Chao Chen, Ji-Tao Li and Ren-Gang Wu
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2024 24:926
  13. Psychological distress often co-occurs with sleep disturbances; but the specific mechanisms linking the two remain unclear. A qualitative study explored perceptions and factors associated with sleep disturbanc...

    Authors: Julia Chan, Danielle Wing Lam Ng, Richard Fielding and Wendy Wing Tak Lam
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2024 24:869
  14. Quality of life (QoL) in patients undergoing surveillance for uveal melanoma (UM) can be affected by psychological sequelae. Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) may be acute especially when prognostication indicat...

    Authors: Anita Müller, Sylvie Dolbeault, Sophie Piperno-Neumann, Morgane Clerc, Paulin Jarry, Nathalie Cassoux, Livia Lumbroso-Le Rouic, Alexandre Matet, Manuel Rodrigues, Bernhard Holzner, Denis Malaise and Anne Brédart
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2024 24:812
  15. One of the most prevalent unmet needs among cancer patients is the fear of disease progression (FoP). This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the relationships among uncertainty in illness (UI), intoleran...

    Authors: Zhiying Shen, Li Zhang, Shuangjiao Shi, Chunhong Ruan, Li Dan and Chengyuan Li
    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2024 24:756

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Psycho-oncology" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.