Search results for ‘Subject term:"palliative care"’ Sort:
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Adding ritualized chanting to the palliative care of cancer patients at the end of life: a randomized controlled trial
- Authors:
- MAUNGTOUG Nopbhornphetchara, OTHAGANONT Pranom, LIEHR Patricia
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, 17(1), 2021, pp.35-49.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia
This study examined the changes in comfort when adding ritualized chanting to the palliative care of cancer patients at the end of life. The method was a randomized control trial (RCT) performed with 60 cancer patients. Comfort was measured using the End of Life Planning Questionnaire (EOLPQ) with 30 participants in each group [ritualized chanting with palliative care (RCPC) and palliative care alone (PCA)] at baseline (T1), at a 3-week (T2) and the 6-week (T3) time frame. Comfort data were analyzed using two (groups) X three (time) repeated measures MANOVA. There were no significant statistical differences between the groups at baseline. Between-group differences indicated that comfort experienced by participants with the addition of ritualized chanting to palliative care significantly increased (p < .001) over time. The addition of ritualized chanting to the palliative care for cancer patients at the end of life can create changes in their comfort. (Edited publisher abstract)
Palliative care of older people
- Author:
- BLACK Joanna
- Journal article citation:
- Working with Older People, 11(3), September 2007, pp.21-23.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The author describes two contrasting accounts of patients experiences of palliative care at an older age.
The patient's journey: palliative care - a parent's view
- Authors:
- DARNILL Stephanie, GAMAGE Bernadette
- Journal article citation:
- British Medical Journal, 24.06.06, 2006, pp.1494-1495.
- Publisher:
- British Medical Association
The first author, a parent, gives a personal account of her sons death from cancer and the issues she encountered arising from her child’s specific needs and the palliative care provision available. The second author briefly describes the work of Lifeforces team which aims to ensure support and home care for children with life threatening or life limiting illnesses.
Improving supportive and palliative care for adults with cancer
- Author:
- RICHARDSON Alison
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 30.9.03, 2003, p.49.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Briefly reports on guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) which aims to ensure that patients with cancer and their carers receive the support and care they need. The guidance is due to be published next year.
Quality palliative care for cancer and dementia in five European countries: some common challenges
- Authors:
- DAVIES Nathan, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 18,(4) 2014, pp.400-410.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Objectives: There is a growing consensus worldwide that palliative care needs to be both more inclusive of conditions other than cancer and to improve. This paper explores some common challenges currently faced by professionals providing palliative care for patients with either cancer or dementia across five countries. Method: One focus group (n = 7) and 67 interviews were conducted in 2012 across five countries: England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway, with professionals from dementia, cancer and palliative care settings. Results: The interviews revealed five common challenges faced across the five countries: communication difficulties (between services; and between professionals, and patients and their families); the variable extent of structural/functional integration of services; the difficulties in funding of palliative care services; problematic processes of care (boundaries, definitions, knowledge, skills and inclusiveness) and, finally, time constraints. Conclusion: These are not problems distinct to palliative care, but they may have different origins and explanations compared to other areas of health care. This paper explored deeper themes hidden behind a discourse about barriers and facilitators to improving care. (Publisher abstract)
Quality-of-life concerns of Chinese patients with advanced cancer
- Authors:
- LAU Liam Ka-Po, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 52(1), 2013, pp.59-77.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This study aimed to examine the quality of life (QOL) of patients with advanced cancer in Hong Kong. The study was based on cross-sectional data on QOL collected at baseline from a group of 90 Chinese patients with advanced cancer who joined a meaning-of-life interventional study conducted from September 2010 to March 2011. The participants completed a background information questionnaire which measured age, sex, education, marital status, religion, cancer diagnosis, metastasis, length of survival since diagnosis, walking ability, and current treatment. In addition, their QOL was measured by the Quality-of-life Concerns in the End of Life Questionnaire (QOLC-E) and a single-item scale on global QOL. The findings showed that scores of 5 of the 8 QOLC-E sub-scales had significant correlation with the single-item QOL score: value of life; physical discomfort; health care concerns; existential distress; and support. Participation in health care decisions, food-related concerns, and existential distress were some QOL concerns that require health care professionals' attention. Walking ability predicted the level of QOL in certain QOL domains demonstrating the need for rehabilitation. The value of life was the most important domain that predicted overall QOL, indicating that meaning-focused interventions are of utmost importance in palliative care.
Holistic common assessment of supportive and palliative care needs for adults with cancer: assessment guidance
- Author:
- CANCER ACTION TEAM
- Publisher:
- Cancer Action Team
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 20p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Prepared in response to key recommendation 2 of the NICE guidance on Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer (2004), this document aims to provide guidance for practitioners and managers providing or coordinating the care of adults with cancer. It is intended to enable managers and practitioners to adopt a unified approach to the assessment and recording of patients' needs, and designed for health care teams to use as a benchmark against which current local assessment processes can be appraised. It sets out the main features of the holistic assessment and provides the core content of the assessment. It covers who should be assessed, when and where the assessment should take place, who should undertake an assessment, preparing to do an assessment, assessment content (including the 5 'domains': background information and assessment preferences, physical needs, social and occupational needs, psychological well-being, and spiritual well-being), recording, storing and sharing information from the assessment, taking action, and examples showing when and by whom assessment might be undertaken.
Bereaved informal cancer carers making sense of their palliative care experiences at home
- Authors:
- WONG W. K. T., USSHER J.
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 17(3), May 2009, pp.274-282.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This qualitative study explored the positive meanings constructed and ascribed to the experience of providing palliative care at home by bereaved informal cancer carers. Twenty-two bereaved cancer carers, living in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were interviewed as part of a larger mixed-method study examining the experience of informal cancer care. Participants were recruited through cancer support groups and cancer clinics, and through the Cancer Council NSW. The findings indicated that these bereaved carers gave accounts that accentuated the benefit and satisfaction derived from providing direct palliative care at home, which enabled them to construct positive meanings associated with their participation in the dying process, and as a result to ascribe subjectively meaningful interpretations to their loved ones' death and their sense of loss. This included a sense of reward for doing something good, meeting the expressed needs of the patient, continuing with normal life as much as possible, improving the conditions of the relationship and meeting cultural expectations of the right thing to do. Being present at the point of death was positioned as rewarding because it facilitated the process of saying goodbye, fostered inclusion of others, provided closure and was a spiritual experience. These findings suggest that there are positive and rewarding aspects associated with providing informal cancer care in a palliative context, and these aspects were pertinent and meaningful for carers in their endeavours to reconcile the difficulties and loss they experienced.
“I know he controls cancer”: the meanings of religion among Black Caribbean and White British patients with advanced cancer
- Authors:
- KOFFMAN Jonathan, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 67(5), September 2008, pp.780-789.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
There is evidence that religion and spirituality affect psychosocial adjustment to cancer. However, little is known about the perceptions and meanings of religion and spirituality among Black and minority ethnic groups living with cancer in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 Black Caribbean and 19 White British patients living in South London boroughs with advanced cancer to explore how religion and spirituality influenced their self-reported cancer experience. Twenty-five Black Caribbean patients and 13/19 White British patients volunteered views on the place of religion or God in their life. Spirituality was rarely mentioned. Christianity was the only religion referred to. Strength of religious belief appeared to be more pronounced among Black Caribbean patients. Three main themes emerged from patients' accounts: the ways in which patients believed religion and belief in God helped them comprehend cancer; how they felt their faith and the emotional and practical support provided by church communities assisted them to live with the physical and psychological effects of their illness and its progression; and Black Caribbean patients identified the ways in which the experience of cancer promoted religious identity. The authors identified that patients from both ethnic groups appeared to derive benefit from their religious faith and belief in God. However, the manner in which these were understood and expressed in relation to their cancer was culturally shaped. They recommend that when health and social care professionals perform an assessment interview with patients from different cultural backgrounds to their own, opportunities are made for them to express information about their illness that may include religious and spiritual beliefs since these may alter perceptions of their illness and symptoms and thereby influence treatment decisions.
Palliative care services: meeting the needs of patients
- Authors:
- ARMITAGE Mary, et al
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Physicians
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 51p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This report says that all patients who are suffering and dying should have the opportunity for a good death, with management of symptoms and psychological social and spiritual support. It highlights that access to palliative care services is inadequate and inequitable, with unacceptable variations in care geographically, across different demographic groups and patients with different illnesses and needs. There is particular disparity between patients with cancer and those suffering from non-malignant conditions.