Search

Context: Psycho-existential symptoms in palliative care are addressed insufficiently. Routine screening, ongoing monitoring and meaningful treatment of psycho-existential symptoms may contribute to the relief of suffering in palliative care., Objectives: We sought to explore longitudinal change in psycho-existential symptoms following the routine implementation of the Psycho-existential Symptom Assessment Scale (PeSAS) in Australian palliative care services., Methods: Using a multisite rolling design, we implemented the PeSAS to longitudinally monitor symptoms in a cohort of 319 patients. We assessed change scores for each symptom in groups with mild (≤3), moderate (4-7) and severe (≥8) symptomatology at baseline. We tested significance between these groups and used regression analyses to identify predictors., Results: While one half of patients denied clinically important psycho-existential symptoms, for the remainder, overall, more patients improved than deteriorated. Between 20% and 60% of patients with moderate and severe symptoms improved, while another 5%-25% developed new symptom distress. Patients with severe baseline scores improved significantly more than those with moderate baseline scores., Conclusion: As we better recognize through screening patients carrying psycho-existential distress in palliative care programs, there is considerable room for improvement in ameliorating this suffering. Inadequate clinical skills, poor psychosocial staffing or a biomedical program culture may all contribute to inadequate symptom control. Person-centered care necessitates greater attention to authentic multidisciplinary care that ameliorates psycho-spiritual and existential distress., Competing Interests: Disclosures and Acknowledgments The authors have nothing to declare. Australian Commonwealth Department of Health Palliative Care National Program grant number 4-E1QGPW9 awarded to David W Kissane. Funder had no influence on manuscript. The authors thank the patients and staff who helped with this project, especially Richard Chye, Antonio Claridad, Jessica Keeler, Scott Lee, Cynthia Masters, and Leeroy William., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Context: Psycho-existential symptoms are common yet often missed or neglected in palliative care. Screening can be an effective way to recognize and respond to this need., Objectives: We aimed to implement routine use of the Psycho-existential Symptom Assessment Scale (PeSAS) as a screening tool in Australian palliative care services and discern the symptom prevalence identified., Methods: In a multi-site rolling design, we established implementation site committees and embarked on experiential workshops to train clinicians in the tool's efficient use. Patient symptom prevalence data were collected to compare uptake across sites. Descriptive statistics were applied., Results: Over one year, we trained 216 clinicians across six palliative care services in the use of the PeSAS as a screening tool and collected data from 1405 patients. Clinicians reported significant growth in their sense of efficacy in assessing psycho-existential wellness. Services using electronic records implemented most easily. Psycho-existential symptoms with clinically significant prevalence (scores ≥ 4/10) included anxiety 41.1%, discouragement 37.6%, hopelessness 35.8%, pointlessness 26.9%, depression 30.3%, and the wish to die 17%. The precision of measurement within 3% was found for severe ratings (score ≥ 8/10) including anxiety 10.6%, depression 10.2%, the wish to die 7.6%, and confusion 3.6%., Conclusion: Clinicians can be trained to screen with the Psycho-existential Symptom Assessment Scale, which serves as a valuable measure to better recognize symptoms of psycho-existential distress among palliative care patients. Implementation barriers included the prior ethos of the service, confidence in talking about these themes, electronic data entry, and perceived time pressures., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Integrating education about physician-patient communication into oncology specialists' education is important to improve quality of care. Our aim was to rigorously evaluate a 4-year institutionally-based patient communication skills program for oncology post-graduate trainees., Methods: Trainees from 10 specialties in the U.S. participated in patient communication skills modules tailored to sub-specialties. The program was evaluated by comparing pre-post scores on hierarchical outcomes: course evaluation, self-confidence, skills uptake in standardized and real patient encounters, and patient evaluations of satisfaction with communication. We examined breadth of skill usage as key outcome. Generalized estimating equations were used in data analysis., Results: Two hundred and sixty-two trainees' data were analyzed, resulting in 984 standardized and 753 real patient encounters. Participants reported high satisfaction and demonstrated significant skill growth with standardized patients, but transfer of these skills into real patient encounters was incomplete. Participants with lower baseline scores had larger improvements with both standardized and real patients., Conclusion: The program was well received and increased participant skills in the simulated setting without effective transfer to real patient encounters., Practice Implications: Future work should allocate proportionally greater resources to trainees with lower baseline scores and measure breadth of participant skill usage as an outcome., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Context and Objectives: Screening and baseline data on 170 American families (620 individuals), selected by screening from a palliative care population for inclusion in a randomized controlled trial of family-focused grief therapy, were examined to determine whether family dysfunction conferred higher levels of psychosocial morbidity. We hypothesized that greater family dysfunction would, indeed, be associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes among palliative care patients and their family members., Methods: Screened families were classified according to their functioning on the Family Relationships Index (FRI) and consented families completed baseline assessments. Mixed-effects modeling with post hoc tests compared individuals' baseline psychosocial outcomes (psychological distress, social functioning, and family functioning on a different measure) according to the classification of their family on the FRI. Covariates were included in all models as appropriate., Results: For those who completed baseline measures, 191 (30.0%) individuals were in low-communicating families, 313 (50.5%) in uninvolved families, and 116 (18.7%) in conflictual families. Family class was significantly associated (at ps ≤ 0.05) with increased psychological distress (Beck Depression Inventory and Brief Symptom Inventory) and poorer social adjustment (Social Adjustment Scale) for individual family members. The family assessment device supported the concurrent accuracy of the FRI., Conclusion: As predicted, significantly greater levels of individual psychosocial morbidity were present in American families whose functioning as a group was poorer. Support was generated for a clinical approach that screens families to identify those at high risk. Overall, these baseline data point to the importance of a family-centered model of care., (Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Context: The risk of suicide is elevated in palliative care patients compared with the general population. Various psychological factors, including depression, demoralization, loss of control, and low self-worth, have been associated with a desire to hasten death., Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether depression, demoralization, loss of control, and low self-worth mediated the relationship between global quality of life and desire to hasten death., Methods: A sample of 162 palliative care patients completed measures of global quality of life, depression, demoralization, perceived control, self-worth, and desire to hasten death. A multiple mediation model with bootstrapping sampling tested the total (combined) indirect effect and individual indirect effects of depression, the two subscales of demoralization (Meaning and Purpose, and Distress and Coping Ability), perceived control, and self-worth., Results: Depressive symptoms, loss of meaning and purpose, loss of control, and low self-worth mediated the direct effect of global quality of life on desire to hasten death. The Distress and Coping Ability component of demoralization was not a significant mediator., Conclusion: Depression, loss of meaning and purpose, loss of control, and low self-worth are strong clinical markers for desire to hasten death. Targeting these symptoms through existentially oriented therapies, such as meaning-centered therapy, may ameliorate suicidal thinking., (Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Context: Demoralization can be understood as a condition that results from existential conflict. It presents with symptoms of hopelessness and helplessness caused by a loss of purpose and meaning in life. It is a significant mental health concern given there can be an associated desire for hastened death., Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize the recent empirical evidence on demoralization in patients with progressive disease or cancer, including prevalence rates; the relationships between demoralization and sociodemographic, disease- and treatment-related, and psychological factors; and the psychometric properties of demoralization measures., Methods: A comprehensive literature search using key words and subject headings was performed following PRISMA guidelines with nine electronic bibliographic databases, resulting in 25 studies (33 articles) with a total of 4545 participants reviewed. Full articles underwent methodological quality assessment, and correlational information was synthesized according to the strength of evidence., Results: The findings suggest that demoralization is prevalent in patients with progressive disease or cancer and clinically significant in 13%-18%. A range of factors were consistently associated with demoralization: poorly controlled physical symptoms, inadequately treated depression and anxiety, reduced social functioning, unemployment, and single status. The Demoralization Scale has demonstrated good psychometric properties across five studies., Conclusion: Overall, this systematic review was limited by the extent of variability in the characteristics of studies. Patients who are single, isolated or jobless, have poorly controlled physical symptoms, or have inadequately treated anxiety and depressive disorders are at increased risk for demoralization. Clinical recognition of demoralization can trigger more focused interventions., (Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Context: Poor family functioning affects psychosocial adjustment and the occurrence of morbidity following bereavement in the context of a family's coping with advanced cancer. Family functioning typologies assist with targeted family-centered assessment and intervention to offset these complications in the palliative care setting., Objectives: Our objective was to identify the number and nature of potential types in an American palliative care patient sample., Methods: Data from patients with advanced cancer (N = 1809) screened for eligibility for a larger randomized clinical trial were used. Cluster analyses determined whether patients could be classified into clinically meaningful and coherent groups, based on similarities in their perceptions of family functioning across the cohesiveness, expressiveness, and conflict resolution subscales of the Family Relations Index., Results: Patients' reports of perceived family functioning yielded a model containing five meaningful family types., Conclusion: Cohesiveness, expressiveness, and conflict resolution appear to be useful dimensions by which to classify patient perceptions of family functioning. "At risk" American families may include those we have called hostile, low-communicating, and less-involved. Such families may benefit from adjuvant family-centered psychosocial services, such as family therapy., Competing Interests: The authors have no disclosures or conflicts of interest to report., (Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To develop a communication skills training (CST) module for health care professionals, particularly in the area of oncology, on how to conduct interviews using interpreters and to evaluate the module in terms of participant's self-efficacy and satisfaction., Methods: Forty-seven multi-specialty health care providers from the New York Metropolitan Area attended a communication skills module at a Comprehensive Cancer Care Center about how to conduct clinical interviews utilizing interpreters. The development of this module was on the basis of current literature and followed the Comskil model previously utilized for other doctor-patient CSTs. Participants were given pre- and post-surveys to evaluate their own confidence as well as the helpfulness of the module., Results: On the basis of a retrospective pre-post measure, participants reported an increase in their confidence about interviewing patients via translators. In addition, at least 80% of participants reported their satisfaction with the various components of the module by either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the different statements., Conclusions: We have developed a module that trains clinicians in effective collaboration with professional medical interpreters and shown its ability to increase the confidence of clinician's to work with limited English proficiency patients. Our approach intends to minimize not only the language barrier but also the cultural barriers that could potentially interfere with patients' care., Practice Implications: This work has important practice implications in the oncology setting, where cultural sensitivity is paramount and empathic exchange with the patient optimizes their sense of being well supported by their health care team. We believe that this model is generalizable to many other medical settings where use needs to be made of a professional interpreter.

Background: Mixed anxiety/depression is associated with poorer psychosocial and treatment outcomes, worse quality of life, pooreradherence to treatment, slower recovery, greater suicide risk, and highercost-utilization., Objective: This study aimed to examine the cancer-specific prevalence of these symptoms., Method: Cross-sectional anxiety and depression symptom data were collected with the Brief Symptom Inventory from adult outpatients presenting to a tertiary cancer center (N=8,265)., Results: Mixed anxiety/depression symptoms were seen in 12.4% of patients; overall depression symptoms in 18.3%, overall anxiety symptoms in 24.0%, pure anxiety symptoms in 11.7%, and pure depression symptoms in 6.0%; 70% had neither. Higher rates of mixed anxiety/depression symptoms were seen with stomach, pancreatic, head and neck, and lung cancers, but lower rates were seen in those with breast cancers. The mixed anxiety/depression phenotype occurs in two-thirds of depressed cancer patients., Discussion: The fact that 70% of patients did not meet thresholds for depression or anxiety symptoms can be interpreted as a reflection of the resistance to developing a significant level of these symptoms. However, because stomach, pancreatic, head and neck, and lung cancers have higher levels of mixed anxiety/depression symptoms, the question can be raised as to whether these are associated with a more biological type of anxiety/depression (e.g., due to cytokine release) and whether this phenotype should be actively targeted because of its frequent occurrence in these cancers.

Objective: To develop a workshop for training faculty to facilitate small group role play sessions for a communication skills training program and assess the impact of that workshop on the trainees' self-efficacy about facilitation skills., Methods: A multi-specialty group of 33 attending physicians at a Comprehensive Cancer Center were trained in a Facilitating Communication Skills Training workshop in order to prepare them to facilitate small group role play with fellows and residents. The workshop curriculum was based on theory and literature on teaching communication skills., Results: The workshop had a significant effect on participants' self-efficacy in facilitating communication skills training. At least 75% of participants reported feeling comfortable facilitating communication skills training small groups., Conclusion: This facilitation workshop was successful in providing participants with confidence to successfully facilitate small group role play sessions in communication skills training., Practice Implications: In order to evaluate the effectiveness of communication skills training programs, it is important to have trained facilitators who adhere to a set of facilitation guidelines. Workshops on facilitation skills provide the background and practice time necessary as a first step in the training process.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment integrity of Family-Focused Grief Therapy (FFGT), a preventive intervention designed for families at high risk of poor functioning during palliative care and bereavement. From the 81 families participating in a randomized controlled trial (53 assigned to therapy), 28 were randomly selected for this study of treatment fidelity using the FFGT integrity measure. A total of 109 family sessions were appraised. This represented a review of 62% of treated families, 38% of total therapy sessions, and 87% of the 15 participating therapists. Weighted mean percentage occurrences of therapist behaviors permitted trends in therapy application to be observed. Inter-rater reliability using the FFGT integrity measure was satisfactory, with 88% overall agreement. Eighty-six percent of therapists adhered faithfully to core elements of the model. Therapist competence was evidenced by a strong therapeutic alliance (94%), affirmation of family strengths in over 90%, and focus on agreed themes in 76% of sessions. Therapists averaged 10 grief-related questions per session, 7 on communication-related issues during assessment, 7 on conflict late in therapy, and 4 on cohesiveness across the course of therapy. Consistent application of FFGT, with attention to its four key themes of family communication, cohesiveness, conflict resolution, and shared grief has been demonstrated. The model is generalizable when applied by family therapists.

Background: During the 9 months between July, 1996, and March, 1997, the provision of euthanasia for the terminally ill was legal in the Northern Territory of Australia. Seven patients made formal use of the Rights of the Terminally Ill (ROTI) Act; four died under the Act. We report their clinical details and the decision-making process required by the Act., Methods: We taped in-depth interviews with the general practitioner who provided euthanasia. Further information was available from public texts created by patients, the media, and the coroner., Findings: All seven patients had cancer, most at advanced stages. Three were socially isolated. Symptoms of depression were common. Having met criteria of the Act, some patients deferred their decision for a time before proceeding with euthanasia. Medical opinions about the terminal nature of illness differed., Interpretation: Provision of opinions about the terminal nature of illness and the mental health of the patient, as required by the ROTI Act, created problematic gatekeeping roles for the doctors involved.