Palliative & supportive care
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Palliat Support Care · Mar 2009
Comparative StudyCan short hospice enrollment be long enough? Comparing the perspectives of hospice professionals and family caregivers.
Hospice utilization lasting for 2 weeks or less before death is considered "short." Short, late-stage hospice admissions have been viewed as inadequate for providing end-stage symptom management, maximal comfort, and a comprehensive focus on life closure and as an underutilization of the Medicare Hospice Benefit. The purpose of this study was to explore psychosocial dynamics during late-stage hospice admissions by comparing the perspectives of hospice professionals and family caregivers. Salutogenic principles and concepts from Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Theory (SOC) guided the inquiry. ⋯ Hospice professionals and caregivers view late-stage admissions differently; they are a crisis for some but not all families. The development of a quick assessment tool for late-stage admissions has the potential for meaningful and effective intervention when time is of the essence.
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Palliat Support Care · Mar 2009
ReviewMorbidity, mortality, and parental grief: a review of the literature on the relationship between the death of a child and the subsequent health of parents.
This review was undertaken to analyze the research to date and identify areas for future research regarding the associations between parental grief after the death of a child and the subsequent health of the parents, including both their mortality and morbidity risks. ⋯ Based on these findings, it is clear that more methodologically sound research is necessary to clarify the relationship between parental grief after the death of a child and the parents' subsequent morbidity and mortality risks.
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Palliat Support Care · Mar 2009
The spiritual meaning of pre-loss music therapy to bereaved caregivers of advanced cancer patients.
The aim of this study was to learn how music therapy sessions, held prior to the death of a loved one, impact spirituality in surviving caregivers of advanced cancer patients. ⋯ Pre-loss music therapy can potentially assist caregivers during times of bereavement, as they retain memories of joy and empowerment, rather than memories of pain and distress, and find meaning through transcendence.
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Palliat Support Care · Dec 2008
Comparative StudyThe relationship between hope and pain in a sample of hospitalized oncology patients.
The aims of this study were to describe hope in a sample of hospitalized oncology patients in pain and to determine if various demographic, clinical, and pain characteristics were related to hope. In addition, the individual item and total Herth Hope Index (HHI) scores for these oncology inpatients with pain were compared with those from the general Norwegian population. ⋯ The higher levels of hope in the oncology inpatients with pain compared with the general Norwegian population may reflect a "response shift" in the patients' evaluation of hope. Although the difference is relatively small, it may represent a clinically meaningful difference. The fact that significant relationships were found between HHI scores and the more psychosocial interference scores on BPI suggest that hope may be more related to psychosocial effects on pain than on its physical effects.