Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2016
Symptom Interference Severity and Health-Related Quality of Life in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
While assessing symptom severity is an important component of evaluating symptoms, understanding those symptoms that interfere with patients' lives is also key. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a chronic disease resulting in right heart failure and increased mortality. Patients with PAH experience multiple symptoms but we do not know which symptoms and to what extent their symptoms interfere with daily life. ⋯ Patients with PAH are experiencing multiple symptoms that are interfering with their HRQOL and ability to function.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2016
Use and Predictors of End-of-Life Care Among HIV Patients in a Safety Net Health System.
Although highly active antiretroviral therapy has improved survival among many HIV patients, there are still those with advanced illness and limited access to care who may benefit from palliative care and hospice. ⋯ Among an urban cohort of HIV patients, the rates of advance directive completion, palliative care use, and hospice use were low. Despite advancements in the treatment of HIV, many patients with advanced illness may benefit from palliative care and hospice services. Advances should be made in identifying those patients earlier in their disease trajectories.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2016
Psychometric Properties of the Icelandic Version of the Revised Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale.
The Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) is a symptom assessment tool commonly used in both research and clinical practice. A revised version of the tool (ESAS-r) was published in 2011. ⋯ The Icelandic version of ESAS-r is a valid and reliable tool for symptom screening in Icelandic cancer patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2016
Associations Between Personality and End-of-Life Care Preferences Among Men with Prostate Cancer: A Clustering Approach.
Increased focus on patient-centered care models has contributed to greater emphasis on improving quality of life at the end of life through personalized medicine. However, little is known about individual-level factors impacting end-of-life care preferences. ⋯ Findings suggest that personality traits are associated with specific health care preferences. Individuals high on neuroticism are likely to report reluctance toward all forms of end-of-life care and may benefit from in-depth information about the process and likely outcomes of receiving life support and palliative care services.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2016
The Indirect Effect of Positive Parenting on the Relationship Between Parent and Sibling Bereavement Outcomes Following the Death of a Child.
Families are referred to pediatric palliative care (PPC) programs when a child is diagnosed with a medical condition associated with less than a full life expectancy. When a child dies, PPC programs typically offer a range of bereavement interventions to these families, often focusing on parents. Currently, it is unclear which factors increase the likelihood that bereaved siblings will experience negative outcomes, limiting the development of empirically supported interventions that can be delivered in PPC programs. ⋯ These results underscore the importance of examining both maternal and paternal influences after the death of a child, demonstrate differential impact of maternal vs. paternal symptoms on siblings, and stress the importance of addressing postloss symptoms from a family systems perspective.