Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialA home-based exercise program to improve function, fatigue, and sleep quality in patients with Stage IV lung and colorectal cancer: a randomized controlled trial.
Exercise benefits patients with cancer, but studies of home-based approaches, particularly among those with Stage IV disease, remain small and exploratory. ⋯ A home-based exercise program seems capable of improving the mobility, fatigue, and sleep quality of patients with Stage IV lung and colorectal cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialFamily factors affect clinician attitudes in pediatric end-of-life decision making: a randomized vignette study.
Conflicts between families and clinicians in pediatric end-of-life (EOL) care cause distress for providers, dissatisfaction for patients' families, and potential suffering for terminally ill children. ⋯ In this randomized vignette study, we have shown that family factors, particularly how involved a family seems to be in a child's life, affect what clinicians think is ethically appropriate in challenging EOL cases. Knowledge of how a family's degree of involvement may affect clinicians should be helpful to the clinical ethics consultants and offer some degree of insight to the clinicians themselves.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialMusic therapy reduces pain in palliative care patients: a randomized controlled trial.
Treatment of pain in palliative care patients is challenging. Adjunctive methods of pain management are desirable. Music therapy offers a nonpharmacologic and safe alternative. ⋯ A significantly greater decrease in numeric rating scale pain scores was seen in the music therapy group (difference in means [95% CI] -1.4 [-2.0, -0.8]; P<0.0001). Mean changes in Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scores did not differ between study groups (mean difference -0.3, [95% CI] -0.8, 0.1; P>0.05). Mean change in Functional Pain Scale scores was significantly greater in the music therapy group (difference in means -0.5 [95% CI] -0.8, 0.3; P<0.0001) [corrected]: A single music therapy intervention incorporating therapist-guided autogenic relaxation and live music was effective in lowering pain in palliative care patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyA pilot cluster-randomized trial of a 20-week Tai Chi program in elders with cognitive impairment and osteoarthritic knee: effects on pain and other health outcomes.
Because Tai Chi (TC) is beneficial to elders without cognitive impairment (CI), it also may benefit elders with CI. But elders with CI have generally been excluded from TC studies because many measurement tools require verbal reports that some elders with CI are unable to provide. ⋯ Practicing TC can be efficacious in reducing pain and stiffness in elders with knee OA and CI.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial"It makes you feel that somebody is out there caring": a qualitative study of intervention and control participants' perceptions of the benefits of taking part in an evaluation of dignity therapy for people with advanced cancer.
Participants in a Phase II randomized controlled trial of Dignity Therapy felt that the intervention had helped them; however, the processes underlying this are not known. ⋯ Patients with advanced cancer and their families found that Dignity Therapy had helped them in many ways; however, patients in the control group sometimes perceived similar benefits from taking part in the study, highlighting elements of Dignity Therapy that are common to dignity conserving care.