End of life care and the approach of death.
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626 to 650 of 969Mortality salience increases defensive distancing from people with terminal cancer.
Based on principles of terror management theory, the authors hypothesized that participants would distance more from a target person with terminal cancer than from a target with arthritis, and that this effect would be stronger following mortality salience. In Study 1, adults rated how similar their personalities were to a target person; in Study 2, participants arranged two chairs in preparation for meeting the target person. Both studies found that distancing from the person with terminal cancer increased after participants wrote about their own death (vs. giving a speech). Thus, death anxiety may explain why people avoid close contact with terminally ill people; further analyses suggest that gender and self-esteem may also influence such distancing from the terminally ill.
matched on Attitude to Death (mesh), Terminally Ill (mesh), terminal illness (text)
Legal physician-assisted dying in Oregon and the Netherlands: evidence concerning the impact on patients in "vulnerable" groups.
Background: Debates over legalisation of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) or euthanasia often warn of a "slippery slope", predicting abuse of people in vulnerable groups. To assess this concern, the authors examined data from Oregon and the Netherlands, the two principal jurisdictions in which physician-assisted dying is legal and data have been collected over a substantial period.
Methods: The data from Oregon (where PAS, now called death under the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, is legal) comprised all annual and cumulative Department of Human Services reports 1998-2006 and three independent studies; the data from the Netherlands (where both PAS and euthanasia are now legal) comprised all four government-commissioned nationwide studies of end-of-life decision making (1990, 1995, 2001 and 2005) and specialised studies. Evidence of any disproportionate impact on 10 groups of potentially v…
matched on Attitude to Death (mesh), Terminally Ill (mesh), end of life (text)
Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Palliative Care Providers.
The COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to continue spreading widely across the globe throughout 2020. To mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19, social distancing and visitor restrictions in health care facilities have been widely implemented. Such policies and practices, along with the direct impact of the spread of COVID-19, complicate issues of grief that are relevant to medical providers. We describe the relationship of the COVID-19 pandemic to anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, and complicated grief for individuals, families, and their providers. Furthermore, we provide discussion regarding countering this grief through communication, advance care planning, and self-care practices. We provide resources for health care providers, in addition to calling on palliative care providers to consider their own role as a resource to other specialties during this public health emerg…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), Advance Care Planning (mesh)
The feasibility and acceptability of a chaplain-led intervention for caregivers of seriously ill patients: A Caregiver Outlook pilot study.
Objective: When caring for a loved one with a life-limiting illness, a caregiver's own physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering can be profound. While many interventions focus on physical and emotional well-being, few caregiver interventions address existential and spiritual needs and the meaning that caregivers ascribe to their role. To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the process and content of Caregiver Outlook, we employed a manualized chaplain-led intervention to improve well-being by exploring role-related meaning among caregivers of patients with a life-limiting illness.
Method: We conducted a single-arm pre-post pilot evaluation among caregivers of patients with advanced cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Caregivers completed three chaplain-led intervention sessions focusing on (1) a relationship review, (2) forgiveness, and (3) legacy. Outcomes admin…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), Terminally Ill (mesh)
A qualitative study: professionals' experiences of advance care planning in dementia and palliative care, 'a good idea in theory but ...'.
Background: Advance care planning comprises discussions about an individual's wishes for future care while they have capacity.
Aim: To explore professionals' experiences on the implementation of advance care planning in two areas of clinical care, dementia and palliative care.
Design: Qualitative study, focus groups and individual interviews.
Setting: North East of England.
Sample: Ninety-five participants from one Primary Care Trust, two acute National Health Service Hospital Trusts, one Ambulance Trust, one Local Authority and voluntary organisations and the legal sector.
Results: Fourteen focus groups and 18 interviews were held with 95 participants. While professionals agreed that advance care planning was a good idea in theory, implementation in practice presented them with significant challenges. The majority expressed uncertainty over the general value of advance care planning, wh…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), Advance Care Planning (mesh)
Barriers to conducting advance care discussions for children with life-threatening conditions.
Background and objective: Advance care discussions (ACD) occur infrequently or are initiated late in the course of illness. Although data exist regarding barriers to ACD among the care of adult patients, few pediatric data exist. The goal of this study was to identify barriers to conducting ACD for children with life-threatening conditions.
Methods: Physicians and nurses from practice settings where advance care planning typically takes place were surveyed to collect data regarding their attitudes and behaviors regarding ACD.
Results: A total of 266 providers responded to the survey: 107 physicians and 159 nurses (54% response rate). The top 3 barriers were: unrealistic parent expectations, differences between clinician and patient/parent understanding of prognosis, and lack of parent readiness to have the discussion. Nurses identified lack of importance to clinicians (P = .006) and ethi…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), Advance Care Planning (mesh)
The influence of attachment and emotional support in end-stage cancer.
The impact of attachment style and emotional support on negative affect in 67 end-stage cancer patients was examined via self-report inventory. Path analysis revealed high levels of both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were associated with lower levels of emotional support which, in turn, had a major adverse influence on patients' negative affect. In addition, attachment anxiety was also directly associated with distress. The discussion emphasises the importance of attachment theory and emotional support within the context of terminal cancer.
matched on Hospice Care (mesh), Terminally Ill (mesh)
Parental Authority and the Weight of Assent: Navigating Moral Dilemmas in Adolescent End of Life Care.
Though the idea of assent emerged in the 1980s and adaptation in paediatrics has become more common practice, adolescent end-of-life care adds a multi-faceted layer of increased complexity to the assent process. In the current era of moral pluralism, medical decisions must account for much more than clinical considerations: they must abide by legal standards of decision-making which usually prioritize parental preferences. In the case of an adolescent at the end of life, there remains much room for improvement when disagreements arise. Conflict abounds between the parent or other legal decision-maker and healthcare team in situations where the parent prefers not to disclose the severity of the adolescent's illness or the healthcare team believes continuing lifesaving therapies are not in the adolescent's best interest. These dilemmas challenge how we solicit adolescents' preferences (ass…
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Stokar YN (2024)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usSocial science & medicine (1982)1 citations Sense of failure in end of life care: Perspectives from physicians and nurses.
Limited knowledge exists regarding sensed failure resulting provision of end-of-life (EOL) care. Among medical health professionals (MHP), a sense of failure is associated with impaired patientcare and reduced worker wellbeing, including higher rates of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. As part of a larger mixed-methods study on the effects of EOL-care provision on MHP in general hospitals, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 physicians and nurses at three tertiary Israeli hospitals, representing a wide range of medical specialties, training, experience, and cultural backgrounds. Qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews led to the identification of the theme 'sense of failure' with the sub-themes 'sources' and 'lived meanings' of the sensed failure. Apart from the source 'losing a patient' all other identified sources were recognized as work-related ri…
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Factors that may threaten or protect the wellbeing of staff working in paediatric intensive care environments.
Objective: This study explored the risk and protective factors for wellbeing from the perspectives of multidisciplinary paediatric intensive care unit staff.
Design: Using a qualitative, descriptive study design we purposively recruited a sample of nurses, physicians, and allied health professionals to participate in semi-structured interviews which explored staff perceptions of risk and protective factors relating to their daily paediatric intensive care roles. Data was analysed using thematic analysis.
Setting: Four paediatric intensive care units in Australia.
Findings: Twenty staff were recruited. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis approach identified perceived risks for wellbeing included a lack of preparation for the role, and clinical situations that contributed to psychological distress, including perceived worst shift, moral distress, non-accidental injuries, and isolation. Th…
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Mah K, Swami N, Pope A, Earle CC, Krzyzanowska MK, Nissim R, Hales S, Rodin G, Hannon B, Zimmermann C (2022)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer25 citations Caregiver bereavement outcomes in advanced cancer: associations with quality of death and patient age.
Purpose: We investigated relationships between domains of quality of dying and death in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers' bereavement outcomes and the moderating effect of patient age at death.
Methods: Bereaved caregivers of deceased patients with advanced cancer who had participated in an early palliative care trial completed measures of grief (Texas Revised Inventory of Grief [TRIG]), complicated grief (Prolonged Grief Inventory [PG-13]), and depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression [CESD-10]). They also completed the Quality of Dying and Death measure (QODD), which assesses patients' symptom control, preparation for death, connectedness with loved ones, and sense of peace with death.
Results: A total of 157 bereaved caregivers completed the study. When patient age × QODD subscale interactions were included, greater death preparation was related to les…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), end of life (text)
"Why Couldn't I Go in To See Him?" Bereaved Families' Perceptions of End-of-Life Communication During COVID-19.
Background/objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in rapid changes to end-of-life care for hospitalized older adults and their families, including visitation restrictions. We examined bereaved families' perceptions of the quality of end-of-life communication among Veterans, families and staff in Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design: Qualitative descriptive study using data from a survey of bereaved family members of Veterans administered from March-June 2020. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Setting: VA medical centers with the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases during the study period.
Participants: Next-of-kin of 328 Veterans who died in one of 37 VA medical centers' acute care, intensive care, nursing home, or hospice units.
Measurements: Open-ended survey questions (response rate = 37%) about family member's perception…
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Psychological Risk Factors of Functional Impairment After COVID-19 Deaths.
Context: People bereaved from COVID-19 report higher levels of grief than people bereaved from natural causes. The full impact of this onslaught of grief will not be known for some time. Ensuring high-quality bereavement care in the context of COVID-19 presents unprecedented challenges to end-of-life care.
Objectives: We aimed to determine how psychological symptoms explain functional impairment.
Methods: A sample of people bereaved through COVID-19 (N = 307) in the United States completed demographic questions and self-report measures of neuroticism; symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress, separation distress, and dysfunctional grief; and functional impairment due to a COVID-19 loss.
Results: Most participants' scores were in the clinical ranges for generalized anxiety, depression, dysfunctional grief, and functional impairment. Functional impairment scores we…
matched on Hospice Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Mitchell PM, Coast J, Myring G, Ricciardi F, Vickerstaff V, Jones L, Zafar S, Cudmore S, Jordan J, McKibben L, Graham-Wisener L, Finucane AM, Hewison A, Haraldsdottir E, Brazil K, Kernohan WG (2020)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usBMC palliative care10 citations Exploring the costs, consequences and efficiency of three types of palliative care day services in the UK: a pragmatic before-and-after descriptive cohort study.
Background: Palliative Care Day Services (PCDS) offer supportive care to people with advanced, progressive illness who may be approaching the end of life. Despite the growth of PCDS in recent years, evidence of their costs and effects is scarce. It is important to establish the value of such services so that health and care decision-makers can make evidence-based resource allocation decisions. This study examines and estimates the costs and effects of PCDS with different service configurations in three centres across the UK in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Methods: People who had been referred to PCDS were recruited between June 2017 and September 2018. A pragmatic before-and-after descriptive cohort study design analysed data on costs and outcomes. Data on costs were collected on health and care use in the 4 weeks preceding PCDS attendance using adapted versions of the Client …
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Goveas JS, Shear MK (2020)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry96 citations Grief and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Older Adults.
In few periods in human history have bereavement and grief been on so many people's minds as they are today. As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ravages the world, we have seen many perish in a short time. Many have died alone because of requirements for physical distancing. Even more will succumb as COVID-19 continues to spread. Moreover, deaths from other causes, numbering over 50 million annually, are also happening amid physical distancing and other COVID-19-related challenges. The pandemic is affecting the way terminally ill patients are being cared for, when and how people are dying of other causes, and how bodies are being handled and bereavement rituals performed. The bereaved are required to grieve without the support of usual social and cultural rituals. Grieving is further encumbered by cascading life stressors deriving from policies needed to mitigate the pandemic. Tho…
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), terminal illness (text)
The Spirituality in End-of-Life Cancer Patients, in Relation to Anxiety, Depression, Coping Strategies and the Daily Spiritual Experiences: A Cross-Sectional Study.
This study aimed to investigate "Faith" and "Meaning/Peace" dimensions of the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp-12) in relation to coping strategies, anxiety and depression, and to analyze the relationship between FACIT-Sp-12 and the daily spiritual experience scale in end-of-life cancer patients. A sample of 152 participants were involved. The daily spiritual experiences correlated the most with "Faith" subscale. Moreover, religious coping, depression and daily spiritual experiences resulted "Faith" significant predictors, while depression, anxiety, self-distraction, positive reframing and behavioral disengagement were "Meaning/Peace" subscale's significant predictors. These findings highlighted the considerable impact of the daily spiritual experiences on patients' spiritual well-being.
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Islamic Considerations on the Application of Patient's Autonomy in End-of-Life Decision.
In end-of-life situation, the need for patient's preference comes into the picture with the intention of guiding physicians in the direction of patient care. Preference in medical directive is made by a person with full mental capacity outlining what actions should be taken for his health should he loses his competency. This is based on the reality of universal paradigm in medical practice that emphasises patient's autonomy. A specific directive is produced according to a patient's wish that might include some ethically and religiously controversial directives such as mercy killing, physician-assisted suicide, forgoing life-supporting treatments and do-not-resuscitate. In the future, patient autonomy is expected to become prevalent. The extent of patient autonomy has not been widely discussed among Muslim scholars. In Islam, there are certain considerations that must be adhered to.
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Psychosocial standards of care for children with cancer and their families: A national survey of pediatric oncology social workers.
In 2015, an interdisciplinary group of psychosocial experts developed The Standards of Psychosocial Care for Children with Cancer and Their Families. This paper presents data from a national survey of pediatric oncology social workers and their experiences in delivering psychosocial care to children and families. In total, 107 social workers from 81 cancer institutions participated in a 25-item online survey that mirrored the 15 Standards for Psychosocial Care. Both closed and open-ended questions were included. Social work participants reported that psychosocial support is being provided at most cancer centers surveyed, primarily by social workers and child life specialists, addressing adaptation to the cancer diagnosis, treatment, and transitions into survivorship or end-of-life care and bereavement. While social workers reported offering comprehensive services throughout the cancer tr…
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Complicated Grief are Common in Caregivers of Neuro-ICU Patients.
Background: To explore the effect of end of life and other palliative decision making scenarios on the mental health of family members of patients in the neuro-intensive care unit.
Methods: Decision makers of patients in the neuro-ICU at a large, urban, academic medical center meeting palliative care triggers were identified from November 10, 2014, to August 27, 2015. Interviews were conducted at 1 and 6 months post-enrollment. At 1 month, the Inventory of Complicated Grief-Revised (ICG-R), Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Family Satisfaction-ICU (FS-ICU) were performed along with basic demographic questionnaires. At 6 months, only the ICG-R and IES-R were repeated.
Results: At 1 month, 9 (35%) subjects had significant symptoms in at least one of the three domains of traumatic response. Two (7.7%) subjects met full criteria for PTSD (IES-R ≥ 1.5). At 6 months, 5 (22%) subj…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Elliott B (2017)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usHome healthcare now4 citations End-of-Life Care for WW II, Korea, and Vietnam-Era Veterans.
Military Veterans have made many sacrifices for our country and deserve high-quality care at end of life. The purpose of this article is to discuss the WW II, Korean and Vietnam Veteran population, and common concerns at the end of life. Areas of focus include spiritual and emotional needs, posttraumatic stress disorder, and pain management. Understanding of military/Veteran culture, the stoic mindset, and moral injury may provide foundational knowledge for nonmilitary home care and hospice clinicians to understand Veteran patients and their families. In addition, resources and other references are offered to enhance the knowledge of Veteran-related care.
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
REMAP: A Framework for Goals of Care Conversations.
Conversations regarding goals of care with patients who have advanced cancer still occur too late, and oncologists say they lack the training to have these conversations effectively. Experts recommend a number of strategies when having these discussions, including discussing prognosis, responding to patient emotion, exploring values, and often making a recommendation for medical treatments that fit those values. To help learners, from residents to attending oncologists, learn these complex conversational skills, we have developed a framework with a mnemonic, REMAP: Reframe, Expect emotion, Map out patient goals, Align with goals, and Propose a plan. In the reframe step, the oncologist provides a big picture "headline" that lets the patient know things are in a different place. This is followed by actively attending to the patient's emotional response (expect emotion). Then, to map the pa…
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Bereavement support for family caregivers: The gap between guidelines and practice in palliative care.
Background: Standards for bereavement care propose that support should be matched to risk and need. However, studies in many countries demonstrate that palliative care services continue to adopt a generic approach in offering support to bereaved families.
Objective: To identify patterns of bereavement support in palliative care services based upon the experience of bereaved people from a population based survey and in relation to clinical practice guidelines.
Design: An anonymous postal survey collected information from clients of six funeral providers in four Australian states (2014-15), 6 to 24 months after the death of their family member or friend, with 1,139 responding. Responses from 506 bereaved relatives of people who had terminal illnesses were analysed. Of these, 298 had used palliative care services and 208 had not.
Results: More people with cancer (64%) had received palliativ…
matched on Palliative Care (mesh), terminal illness (text)
Disparities In Cancer Care And Costs At The End Of Life: Evidence From England's National Health Service.
In universal health care systems such as the English National Health Service, equality of access is a core principle, and health care is free at the point of delivery. However, even within a universal system, disparities in care and costs exist along a socioeconomic gradient. Little is known about socioeconomic disparities at the end of life and how they affect health care costs. This study examines disparities in end-of-life treatment costs for cancer patients in England. Analyzing data on over 250,000 colorectal, breast, prostate, and lung cancer patients from multiple national databases, we found evidence illustrating that disparities are driven largely by the greater use of emergency inpatient care among patients of lower socioeconomic status. Even within a system with free health care, differences in the use of care create disparities in cancer costs. While further studies of these …
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Supportive Care: Communication Strategies to Improve Cultural Competence in Shared Decision Making.
Historic migration and the ever-increasing current migration into Western countries have greatly changed the ethnic and cultural patterns of patient populations. Because health care beliefs of minority groups may follow their religion and country of origin, inevitable conflict can arise with decision making at the end of life. The principles of truth telling and patient autonomy are embedded in the framework of Anglo-American medical ethics. In contrast, in many parts of the world, the cultural norm is protection of the patient from the truth, decision making by the family, and a tradition of familial piety, where it is dishonorable not to do as much as possible for parents. The challenge for health care professionals is to understand how culture has enormous potential to influence patients' responses to medical issues, such as healing and suffering, as well as the physician-patient rela…
matched on Terminal Care (mesh), end of life (text)
Life and treatment goals of patients with advanced, incurable cancer.
Purpose: Goals of care conversations have been suggested as a strategy for helping patients with advanced cancer manage the uncertainty and distress associated with end-of-life care. However, knowledge deficits about patient goals limit the utility of such conversations. We described the life and treatment goals of patients with incurable cancers, including goal values and expectancies. We examined the associations between paramount goals and patient prognosis, performance status, and psychological adjustment.
Methods: Patients with advanced lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, or melanoma (N = 84) completed measures of prognosis for 12-month survival, hope, optimism, depression, and anxiety. Oncologists provided patient performance status and prognosis for 12-month survival. We conducted interviews with a subset of patients (N = 63), eliciting life and treatment goals, values, and expe…
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