Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyTraining intervention for health care staff in the provision of existential support to patients with cancer: a randomized, controlled study.
When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, existential issues become more compelling. Throughout the illness trajectory, patients with cancer are cared for in oncology wards, by home care teams or in hospices. Nurses working with these patients are sometimes aware of the patients' existential needs but do not feel confident when discussing these issues. ⋯ This study shows that short-term training with reflection improves the confidence of health care staff when communicating, which is important for health care managers with limited resources. Further studies are needed to explore how patients experience the communication skills of health care staff after such training.