Journal of hospice and palliative care最新文献

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the attitudes of nurses and physicians toward neonatal palliative care and identify the barriers to and facilitators of neonatal palliative care, with the goal of improving palliative care for infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the NICUs of seven general hospitals with 112 nurses and 52 physicians participating. Data were collected using the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale questionnaire.

Results: Only 12.5% of nurses and 11.5% of physicians reported that they had sufficient education in neonatal palliative care. In contrast, 89.3% of the nurses and 84.6% of the physicians reported that they needed further education. The common facilitators for both nurses and physicians were 1) agreement by all members of the department regarding the provision of palliative care and 2) informing parents about palliative care options. The common barriers for both nurses and physicians were 1) policies or guidelines supporting palliative care were not available, 2) counseling was not available, 3) technological imperatives, and 4) parental demands for continuing life support. Insufficient resources, staff, and time were also identified as barriers for nurses, whereas these were not identified as barriers for physicians.

Conclusion: It is necessary to develop hospital or national guidelines and educational programs on neonatal palliative care, and it is equally necessary to spread social awareness of the importance of neonatal palliative care.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a death preparation education program for nurses working in convalescent hospitals on death anxiety, death attitudes, and attitudes toward end-of-life care.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group, pre-test and post-test design. Among 53 participants, 26 were assigned to the non-equivalent experimental group and 27 to the control group. The program was performed in the formats of lectures, video-watching, group discussions, and sharing, and consisted of 10 sessions held twice a week, for 5 weeks (90 minutes per session). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, and the chi-square test in SPSS version 21.0.

Results: Significant differences between the experimental and control groups were observed in death anxiety (t=7.62, P<0.001), death attitudes (t=-7.58, P<0.001), and attitudes to end-of-life care (t=-10.30, P<0.001).

Conclusion: It was confirmed that the death preparation education program reduced death anxiety and had a positive effect on death attitudes and attitudes toward end-of-life care. Based on the results of this study, it is expected that specialized and systematic education that can increase the implementation and stability of death preparation education in various fields, including nursing, will have a positive effect on both hospice patients and members of society more broadly.

End-of-life patients experience physical, mental, social, and existential distress. While medical personnel provide medication and care to alleviate patients' distress, listening to and interacting with patients remains essential for understanding their psychological condition. The most important tool, though difficult to implement in practice, is end-of-life discussion (EOLD). EOLD has been shown to have positive effects on end-of-life treatment choices, achievement of patients' life goals, improvements in the quality of life of patients and their families, and the prevention of depression and complicated grief among bereaved family members. EOLD is not often undertaken in clinical practice, however, due to hesitancy among medical personnel and patients for various reasons. In order to conduct an EOLD, the patient's judgment, psychiatric illnesses such as delirium and depression, and psychological issues such as the side effects of psychotropic drugs, denial, and collusion must be evaluated. Open and honest conversation, treatment goal setting, the doctor's familiarity with the patient's background, and attentiveness when providing information are important elements for any dialogue. Meaning-centered psychotherapy was developed to alleviate the existential distress of cancer patients, and its application may promote EOLD. The future development of meaning-centered psychotherapy in practice and in research is expected to further promote EOLD.

End-of-life assessments aim to help dying patients and their families plan clinical interventions in advance and prepare them for a peaceful end of life, in which the patient accepts life and death, and the family accepts the patient's departure. It is important to assess whether death is imminent within a few days, because critical hospice care is provided intensively during that period. The following five changes constitute objective evidence of the end of life: diminished daily living performance, decreased food intake, changes in consciousness and increased sleep quantity, worsening of respiratory distress, and end-stage delirium. As subjective evidence, it is suggested that sensitive perceptions of experienced nurses and the feelings of family members caring for patients should also be considered. When notifying a patient or family members that the end of life is approaching, the members of the multidisciplinary hospice team must communicate with each other, share accurate information, and provide consistent explanations. They must also listen to non-verbal communication in an empathic and supportive manner.

In the era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), social distancing and strict visitation policies at hospitals have made it difficult for medical staff to provide high-quality end-of-life (EOL) care to dying patients and their families. There are various issues related to EOL care, including psychological problems of patients and their families, difficulties in EOL decision-making, the complicated grief of the bereaved family, moral distress, and exhaustion of medical staff. In relation to these issues, we aimed to discuss practical considerations in providing high-quality EOL care in the COVID-19 pandemic. First, medical staff should discuss advance care planning as early as possible and use the parallel planning strategy. Second, medical staff should play a role in facilitating patient-family communication. Third, medical staff should actively and proactively evaluate and alleviate dying patients' symptoms using non-verbal communication. Lastly, medical staff should provide care for family members of the dying patient, who may be particularly vulnerable to post-bereavement problems in the COVID-19 era. Establishing a system of screening high-risk individuals for complicated grief and connecting them to bereavement support services might be considered. Despite the challenging and limited environment, providing EOL care is essential for patients to die with dignity in peace and for the remaining family to return to life after the loved one's death. Efforts considering the practical issues faced by all medical staff and healthcare institutions caring for dying patients should be made.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the life-sustaining treatment decisions of terminal cancer patients.

Methods: Data on 10 terminal cancer patients who decided to withhold or withdraw from treatment were collected using in-depth interviews conducted from February 8 to October 30, 2019. Data were collected until saturation was reached and then analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method.

Results: In this study, six thematic clusters were identified "having complicated feelings", "making choices to protect everyone", "accepting and preparing for death", "feeling distress", "pursuing spiritual well-being", and "evaluating the new system".

Conclusion: When facing death, terminal cancer patients often made choices to protect their family and their dignity with uneasiness of mind when deciding to withdraw from life-sustaining treatments. Though many patients had accepted and prepared for death, they experienced distress about leaving children behind after death. They also pursued spiritual well-being to find peace after deciding to withdraw from life-sustaining treatment. In addition, participants evaluated the new system of policies pertaining to decisions on life-sustaining treatment. Thus, various approaches regarding acceptance and preparation for death, communication with family, hope, and spiritual comfort should be taken in educational interventions to assist terminal cancer patients as they decide whether to withdraw from life-sustaining treatment.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of aroma foot baths on stress and sleep in terminally ill cancer patients.

Methods: We performed a non-randomized intervention-control study with 30 terminal cancer patients who were admitted to a palliative care unit. Participants responded to questionnaires on stress and sleep before and after a 5-day interval. The intervention group received a daily aroma foot bath for 5 days. We performed multivariate regression analysis to examine the changes in outcomes on stress and sleep for the intervention group compared to the control group.

Results: The differences in baseline characteristics between groups, excluding subjective economic status and general weakness, did not show statistical significance. In contrast to the control group, the intervention group showed a statistically significant change in physical stress and psychological stress levels, but significant changes were not observed in quality of sleep. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in physical stress (P=0.068) and psychological stress (P=0.021).

Conclusion: Aroma foot baths are effective for reducing stress in patients hospitalized with terminal cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge, caregiving performance, stress levels, and mental health of family caregivers of terminal cancer patients with delirium, insofar as these characteristics are relevant for delirium.

Methods: Between May 1, 2019, and June 1, 2020, 96 family caregivers of terminal cancer patients with delirium completed a structured survey, the results of which were analyzed.

Results: The average correct answer rate for delirium-related knowledge was 53.2% across all subcategories, which included knowledge of causes (41.5%), symptoms (65.4%), and caregiving (51.7%). The average score for family caregivers' performance of caregiving for delirium was 2.60±0.5, with subcategories including caregiving for patients without delirium (2.16±0.95), caregiving for patients with delirium (2.84±1.01), and stress related to caregiving for delirium (39.88±16.55), as well as categories such as patient-related caregiving (44.32±28.98), duty-related caregiving (44.21±30.15), and interpersonal relationship-related caregiving (22.35±25.03). For mental health, the average score among family caregivers was 1.96±0.70, with the highest score being for the category of additional items (2.28±0.84). Family caregivers of patients with hyperactive delirium as the delirium subtype had higher scores for caregiving performance than caregivers of patients with mixed delirium.

Conclusion: Scores for the delirium-related knowledge and caregiving performance of family caregivers were low, while their caregiving stress levels were high due to their lack of knowledge and experience. This indicates the importance of delirium-related education for family members of patients with delirium and the necessity of developing nursing intervention programs to help manage stress and promote mental health among family caregivers.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigatecomplementary therapiesprovided at hospice palliative care facilities in South Koreaas designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Methods: The survey was conducted via e-mail from September 2 to September 23, 2020, with responsesfrom 109 therapists and 59 managers from 55 different hospice care facilities.

Results: Hospices provided an average of 3.67 different types of therapies, ranging from 1 to 7 different types. The most common types of therapies were horticultural therapy (81.4%), music therapy (79.7%), art therapy (76.3%), and aromatherapy (57.6%). The average frequency of sessions was once a week, the median duration was 60 minutes. Most therapists (96.3%) had qualifications, but the certification-issuing organizations and training intensiveness varied greatly. None of the therapists were employed on a full-time basis, and their average monthly income was KRW 270,000. Therapists and managers gave average scores of 8.90 and 8.38 out of 10, respectively, regarding the positive impact of complementary therapies on patients.

Conclusion: In order for patients and their families to benefit from complementary therapiesat hospice care facilities, in addition tobetter terms of employment for therapists, evidence-based guidelines for different types of therapies are needed so that therapy sessions can be conducted according to the theoretical underpinnings and characteristics of the type of therapy. It is expected that the results of this study will be used for policy-making in support of therapy as an essential hospice service.

Purpose: This study investigated knowledge of and attitudes toward advance directives (ADs) among middle-aged women in South Korea, their willingness to write ADs in the future, and the factors related to knowledge of and attitudes toward ADs.

Methods: Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire completed by 154 middle-aged women aged 50 to 64 from February to March 2020. The questionnaire asked about participants' knowledge of and attitude toward ADs, willingness to write ADs in the future, experiences with life-sustaining treatment within their families, experience making decisions about life-sustaining treatment, and demographic characteristics.

Results: Scores for both knowledge of and attitude toward ADs were relatively high. About 60% of participants gave wrong answers when asked if attorneys were required for writing ADs. A higher knowledge score was significantly associated with a higher attitude score (r=0.227, P<0.01). The women were more likely to be willing to write ADs in the future when they reported a middle income level rather than a lower income level (odds ratio [OR]=5.952, P<0.01), considered themselves unhealthy (OR=5.873, P<0.01), and graduated college or higher (OR=4.096, P<0.05). Furthermore, women who thought that ADs would have an impact on treatment (OR=1.869, P<0.05) and on their families (OR=1.447, P<0.05) were more likely to be willing to write an AD.

Conclusion: This study shows that wrong information about ADs persists among middle-aged women, and significant factors associated with knowledge of and attitude toward ADs were identified. Targeted education programs about ADs need to be developed for middle-aged women.