Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2014
Characteristics and outcomes of advanced cancer patients who miss outpatient supportive care consult appointments.
Missed appointments (MA) are frequent, but there are no studies on the effects of the first MA at supportive care outpatient clinics on clinical outcomes. ⋯ MA patients with advanced cancer have worse survival and increased ER utilization than KA patients. Patients at higher risk for MA should undergo more aggressive follow-up. More research is needed.
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2014
Validation of the "Quality of Life in Life-Threatening Illness--Family Carer Version" (QOLLTI-F) in German-speaking carers of advanced cancer patients.
Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach that focuses on the improvement of quality of life (QOL) of patients as well as their families. QOL research in palliative care has so far primarily focused on patients, but interest in the QOL of their relatives is increasing. For instruments measuring QOL in relatives, data on psychometric properties are often limited, and so far, none has been available in German. ⋯ This study provides a sound translation and validation of the first QOL assessment tool for caregivers of palliative care patients in German. It also adds to the knowledge on the scale's psychometric properties, which prove to be highly satisfactory. The QOLLTI-F may serve as an outcome measure in palliative care practice, clinical trials and epidemiological research.
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2014
Psychological distress and quality of life of palliative cancer patients and their caring relatives during home care.
Palliative patients and their family caregivers were interviewed at the beginning of home care in personal interviews at home in regard to their psychological distress as well as their quality of life. ⋯ In palliative patients, depressive symptoms should not be judged as a normal attendant of the terminal illness situation. Instead, patients should be referred to appropriate support services for pharmacological or psychological treatment. Spousal caregivers and caregivers who are socially not well integrated are in particular need of support. Attention to the financial burden of family caregivers is also very important. Due to the existing correlation between the psychological situation of palliative patients and their caring relatives, couples must be considered an emotional system rather than just two individuals.
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2014
Magnitude of score change for the palliative prognostic index for survival prediction in patients with poor prognostic terminal cancer.
The use of the palliative prognostic index (PPI) when used only at an initial assessment might be inappropriate as a prognostic tool because it does not reflect the patient's clinical course. The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of PPI score change (∆score) between two assessments as a prognostic tool in terminally ill cancer patients categorized as having a poor prognosis. ⋯ Magnitude of PPI score change within 1-week interval provides a significant difference in survival prediction and is more reliable than initial PPI alone to identify terminally ill cancer patients with better outcome potential in those patients considered to have a poor prognosis.
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Support Care Cancer · Oct 2014
Holistic needs assessment in advanced, intensively treated multiple myeloma patients.
It is recommended that patients with multiple myeloma should be assessed for unmet holistic needs at key times in their disease trajectory. The aim of this exploratory study was to characterise the holistic needs of advanced, intensively treated multiple myeloma using a structured assessment tool. ⋯ This is the first study to use a self-reported holistic needs assessment tool in multiple myeloma. A multidimensional structured questionnaire like the SPARC could provide a useful first step in the effective delivery of supportive and palliative care for patients with multiple myeloma.