Annals of palliative medicine
-
Patients with severe chronic diseases and advanced cancer receiving palliative care, have a complex range of pain and anxiety that can arise early in the course of illness. We studied two groups of patients with severe chronic diseases who participated in a nonrandomized clinical trial of early integration of clinical hypnosis in palliative care versus standard pharmacological care. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate whether a long-term intervention of 2 years with clinical hypnosis and self-hypnosis as an adjuvant therapy in chronic pain and anxiety, is more effective than pharmacological therapy alone. ⋯ The patient group receiving hypnosis as an adjuvant therapy showed a statistically significant decrease in pain and anxiety and a significantly lower risk of increasing pharmacological pain treatment in a long term follow-up after 1 and 2 years compared to the control group. Clinical hypnosis can be considered an effective adjuvant therapy for pain and anxiety control in cancer as well as in severe chronic diseases for patients receiving palliative care.
-
Healthcare services are often out of sync with cultural, spiritual and religious perspectives on health, death, and grieving. This dissonance affects attitudes and behaviours in seeking and utilizing end-of-life health services and can lead to poor clinical communication, misunderstanding, and anxiety as patients, families and health providers interact during a serious illness. To address a gap in cultural-specific information Canadian Virtual Hospice launched LivingMyCulture.ca-an evidence-informed collection of videos of immigrants, refugees, and Indigenous people sharing their stories about the intersection of culture, spirituality, and religion with their experiences of advanced illness, palliative care, and grief. ⋯ A Somali-Canadian journalist and community leader will share her unique Muslim and Somali perspective about the way illness, dying and grief is approached and the impact of LivingMyCulture.ca in the community. Overviews of other culture groups' video resources will also be shared, reflecting Canada's rich cultural tapestry. This workshop will provide an overview of LivingMyCulture.ca, share video clips from the 11 cultures in the series and include a discussion with a Somali-Canadian journalist and community leader about the way people in her culture approach illness, dying and grief and the overall impact of LivingMyCulture.ca.
-
Todos Contigo (We are All With You) is a programme for social awareness, training, and implementation of care networks for citizens to support, accompany and care for those who face advanced chronic disease and end of life situations. From New Health Foundation this programme collaborates with the Public Health and Palliative Care International Charter of Compassionate Communities. It seeks to promote a new integrated palliative care model in the daily lives of individuals, to make families and health/social professionals the main promoters of compassionate communities and compassionate cities movement. ⋯ This workshop aims to share a new methodology "Todos Contigo" (We are all with you) Programme for the development of compassionate communities and cities movement. We describe our experiences in Spain and Latin American countries. The method is based on creating community networks, carrying out social awareness and training programmes related to end of life care.
-
What does it take to light a fire to create cultural change about the way we do death, dying and bereavement in Australia? The GroundSwell Project set out to embark on a bold journey to create cultural change in the death and dying space in Australia. For 7 years we have delivered over 55 arts/health projects and have punched well above our weight. What have we learned about change and innovation? We've learned that we had to set up a fiercely independent organisation, drawing on short term funding so that we were never locked into delivering results that perpetuated 'systemic malaise'. ⋯ You'll have pause to reflect on how in your current role in the health system, you too can create change, by drawing on non-health specific discourse, using a stronger social lens. Wanting to engage all walks of life to improve public health is one thing, doing it and maintaining momentum is another. Join Jessie from the GroundSwell Project, Australia to learn about what they have gleaned from 7 years of being just a little too ahead of their time.