Welcome to this podcast highlighting an important article from the Oncology Nursing Forum (ONF).  Primarily using author interviews, ONF podcasts are intended to stimulate discussion about and shed new light on the issues, topics, and questions raised in select ONF articles. Listening to the podcasts is as simple as clicking a button (see instructions below), so sit back and enjoy an ONF podcast today.

Are anger and feelings of blame appropriate emotions for family members who are caring for a loved one with cancer? Is the withholding of helping behaviors ever justified or understandable? These and other provocative questions are answered by Michelle M. Lobchuk, RN, PhD, as she shares her experiences working with family caregivers of people with lung cancer and talks about the July 2008 ONF article that she co-authored with Susan E. McClement, RN, PhD, Christine McPherson, RN, PhD, and Mary Cheang, M Math. The article is titled "Does Blaming the Patient With Lung Cancer Affect the Helping Behavior of Primary Caregivers?" (Click here to view article.)

Michelle M. Lobchuk, RN, PhD

Listen in as ONF Associate Editor Ellen Giarelli, EdD, RN, CRNP, interviews Dr. Lobchuk about how she uses attribution theory to clarify these controversial feelings experienced by family members and describes the value of empathic communication. She also will provide suggestions for how nurses may help caregivers and patients work through the negative feelings associated with a lung cancer diagnosis and turn destructive responses to helping responses.

Lobchuk is an assistant professor on the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada. She holds a Research Scientist Award with the National Cancer Institute of Canada, and her work is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society. She is the author of numerous articles  describing communication competence, perspective-taking, and the complex and enigmatic dynamics between patients with cancer and their family caregivers during the illness experience.