Palliative & supportive care
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Palliat Support Care · Mar 2007
Crying: a force to balance emotions among cancer patients in palliative home care.
Crying is a common but seldom studied phenomenon in palliative care. The aim of this study was to explore the significance of patients crying in a palliative care context. ⋯ Professionals need to understand the different levels of crying. In such situations sometimes comforting the patient may not be the best solution, as some may need privacy.
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Palliat Support Care · Mar 2007
Factors relating to terminally ill cancer patients' willingness to continue living at home during the early phase of home care after discharge from clinical cancer centers in Japan.
To assess the willingness of Japanese terminally ill cancer patients to continue living at home during the early phase of home care after discharge from a Clinical Cancer Center (CCC) in Japan, and to identify factors relating to their willingness to continue living at home. ⋯ At about 10 days after discharge, 64 patients (88%) wished to continue living at home. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis was performed on the data. It was found that the fewer the medical treatments undergone (OR = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.05-0.72), the higher the patients' perception that their condition was consistent with care at home (OR = 2.77, 95% CI: 1.08-8.62) and with their functional well-being (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.08-2.17). In addition, the higher the caregivers' satisfaction with life (OR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.15-5.77), the more willing patients tended to be to continue living at home. SIGNIFICANT OF RESULTS: The willingness of Japanese terminally ill cancer patients to continue living at home appears to be affected by caregiver status. This indicates a need for discharging facilities to monitor the state of home assistance and to investigate the nature of assistance required for continuing home care.
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Palliat Support Care · Mar 2007
Caregiving at the end of life: perspectives from spousal caregivers and care recipients.
The purpose of this study is to examine the perspectives of both the spousal caregiver and care recipient on the caregiving experience in home-based palliative care. ⋯ Health care and social service professionals need to recognize and understand both caregiver and care recipient perspectives if they are to successfully meet the needs of both members of the dyad.