Tools for research and clinical application

When improving men’s health, it is crucial that researchers and health services consider how expressions of masculinity influence health outcomes for men. This scale has been designed to measure masculinity in men with prostate cancer. It also has broader application to men with chronic disease.

The MCD-I contains 22 items which represent five subscales: strength/fitness, sexual importance/priority, family responsibilities, emotional self-reliance, and optimistic action.

The Masculinity in Chronic Disease Inventory (MCD-I) (PDF 134 KB)

Reference

Department of Health. Men’s Health: National Men’s Health Strategy 2020-2030 [Internet]. Australia Government; 2019. Available from: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/-publishing.nsf/Content/national%20mens%20health-1 [opens external site]

Oliffe JL, Rossnagel E, Bottorff JL, Chambers SK, Caperchione C, Rice SM (2019). Community-based men’s health promotion programs: Eight lessons learnt and their caveats. Health Promotion International. DOI: 10.1093/heapro/daz101

Chambers SK, Hyde MK, Oliffe JL, Zajdlewicz L, Lowe A, Wootten AC, et al (2016). Measuring masculinity in the context of chronic disease. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 17(3), 228–42. DOI: 10.1177/1557988319859706

Occhipinti S, Laurie K, Hyde MK, Martin S, Oliffe J, Wittert G, et al. (2019) Measuring Masculinity in Men with Chronic Disease. American Journal of Men’s Health, 13(4). DOI: 10.1177/1557988319859706

Goodwin BC, Ralph N, Ireland MJ, Hyde MK, Oliffe JL, Dunn J, et al. The role of masculinities in psychological and emotional help-seeking by men with prostate cancer. Psycho-Oncology [Internet]. DOI: abs/10.1002/pon.5264

The diagnosis and treatment of cancer causes significant psychosocial distress to patients and their families, including anxiety and depression, adjustment disorders, fears about cancer recurrence, and posttraumatic stress reactions.

The Attitudes to Cancer Help Seeking Scale (ACHS) was developed to assess attitudes to seeking emotional or psychological support after cancer using scale development guidelines based on the theory of planned behaviour.

The ACHS scale has now been utilised and validated in a broad range of settings including men with prostate cancer, geographically remote cancer patients, and recently translated and validated in German cancer patients.

The ACHS scale is freely available for use in ethically approved and not-for-profit cancer research. We hope that you will join us in a community of practice to further develop and explore the utility of this scale and encourage you to keep in touch with us about your findings.

Attitudes to Cancer Help Seeking (ACHS) Scale (PDF 162 KB)

Reference

Carlson LE, Bultz BD. Cancer distress screening: needs, models, and methods. J Psychosom Res. 2003;55(5):403–409. DOI: 10.1016/s0022-3999(03)00514-2

Meyer TJ, Mark MM. Effects of psychosocial interventions with adult cancer patients: a meta-analysis of randomized experiments. 1999; 14(2). DOI 10.1037/10338-007

Hewitt M, Rowland JH. Mental health service use among adult cancer survivors: analyses of the National Health Interview Survey. J Clin Oncol. 2002;20(23):4581–4590. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2002.03.077 

Hyde MK, Newton RU, Galvao DA, Gardiner RA, Occhipinti S, Lowe A, et al. Men’s help-seeking in the first year after diagnosis of localised prostate cancer. Eur J Cancer Care Engl. 2017 Mar;26(2). DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12497

Steginga SK, Campbell A, Ferguson M, Beeden A, Walls M, Cairns W, et al. Socio-demographic, psychosocial and attitudinal predictors of help seeking after cancer diagnosis. Psychooncology. 2008 Oct;17(10):997–1005. DOI: 10.1002/pon.1317

Hyde MK, Zajdlewicz L, Wootten AC, Nelson CJ, Lowe A, Dunn J, et al. Medical help-seeking for sexual concerns in prostate cancer survivors. Sex Med. 2016;4(1):e7–17. DOI: 10.1016/j.esxm.2015.12.004

McDowell ME, Occhipinti S, Ferguson M, Chambers SK. Prospective predictors of psychosocial support service use after cancer. Psychooncology. 2011;20(7):788–791. DOI: 10.1002/pon.1774

Leppin N, Nagelschmidt K, Koch M, Riera-Knorrenschild J, Seifart C, Rief W, et al. Cancer patient utilisation of psychological care in Germany: The role of attitudes towards seeking help. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2019; 28(6): e13165. DOI 10.1111/ecc.13165

This scale has been designed to assess nurses and care assistants’ self-efficacy to provide a palliative approach to older people in residential aged care.

The scale has 12 indicators for nurses and care assistants’ to rate their degree of confidence in patient/family interactions and patient management topics.

Palliative care self-efficacy Scale (PDF 181 KB)

Reference

Phillips, J., Salamonson, Y., & Davidson, P. M. (2011). An instrument to assess nurses' and care assistants' self-efficacy to provide a palliative approach to older people in residential aged care: a validation study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48(9), 1096-1100. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2011.02.015

This scale has been designed to measure the knowledge and confidence of cancer and palliative care nurses in assessing a patient’s pain.

The scale contains four broad questions. Each question hosts multiple indicators for clinicians to rate their knowledge and confidence on a scale of 0 to 10. 

The Self-Perceived ‘Pain Assessment Competencies’ Scale (PDF 144 KB)

Reference

Phillips, J.L., Heneka, N., Hickman, L. & Lam, L. Self-Perceived Pain Assessment Knowledge and Confidence (Self-PAC) Scale for cancer and palliative care nurses: A preliminary validation study. (2018). Pain Management Nursing, 19(6), 619-626 DOI: 10.1016/j.pmn.2018.07.008