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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Revised (MQOL-R) in the context of Korean culture and to verify its reliability and validity., Methods: The participants comprised terminal cancer patients aged 25 or older, and data from 164 participants were analyzed. The study was conducted in the following order translation, expert review, reverse translation, preliminary investigation and interviews, and completion of the final version. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to evaluate the validity of the instrument, and the Beck Depression Inventory, Korean version (K-BDI) was applied to confirm the criterion validity of the MQOL-R Korean version. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient, representing internal consistency, was measured to evaluate reliability., Results: Cronbach's alpha for all 14 questions was 0.862. The model fit indices for confirmatory factor analysis were within the acceptance criteria. The factor loadings of all four factors were over 0.50, and convergent validity and discriminant validity were confirmed. Regarding criterion validity, a negative correlation was found between the four factors of MQOL-R Korean version and the K-BDI., Conclusion: The MQOL-R Korean version, the reliability and validity of which were verified in this study, is a 15-item tool consisting of 14 items dealing with four physical, psychological, existential, and social factors and a single item evaluating the overall quality of life. The MQOL-R Korean version is an instrument that can more concisely and effectively measure the quality of life of patients with life-threatening diseases., Competing Interests: CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2022 by Korean Society for Hospice and Palliative Care.)

Purpose: This study aimed to describe nurses' perceived needs and barriers to pediatric palliative care (PPC)., Methods: Mixed methods with an embedded design were applied. An online survey was conducted for nurses who participated in the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium- Pediatric Palliative Care (ELNEC-PPC) train-the-trainer program, of whom 63 responded. Quantitative data were collected with a survey questionnaire developed through the Delphi method. The 47 items for needs and 15 items for barriers to PPC were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were collected through open- ended questions and analyzed with topic modeling techniques., Results: The mean scores of most subdomains of the PPC needs were 3.5 or higher out of 4, and those of PPC barriers ranged from 3.22 to 3.56, indicating the items in the questionnaire developed in this study properly reflect each factor. The needs for PPC were divided into 4 categories "children and adolescents," "families," "PPC management system," and "community-based PPC." Meanwhile, PPC barriers were divided into 3 categories "healthcare delivery system," "healthcare provider," and "client." The keywords derived from the topic modeling were perception, palliative, children, and education for necessities and lack, perception, medical care, professional care providers, service, and system for barriers to PPC., Conclusion: In this study, by using mixed-methods, items of nurses' perceived needs and barriers to PPC were identified, categorized, and weighted, and their meanings were explored. For the stable establishment of PPC, the priority should be given to improving perceptions of PPC, establishing an appropriate system, and training professional care providers., Competing Interests: CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2022 by Korean Society for Hospice and Palliative Care.)

Purpose: This study attempted to develop clinical guidelines to help patients use hospice and palliative care (HPC) at an appropriate time after writing physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST) by identifying the characteristics of HPC use of patients with terminal cancer., Methods: This retrospective study was conducted to understand the characteristics of HPC use of patients with terminal cancer through decision tree analysis. The participants were 394 terminal cancer patients who were hospitalized at a cancer-specialized hospital in Seoul, South Korea and wrote POLST from January 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021., Results: The predictive model for the characteristics of HPC use showed three main nodes (living together, pain control, and period to death after writing POLST). The decision tree analysis of HPC use by terminal cancer patients showed that the most likely group to use HPC use was terminal cancer patients who had a cohabitant, received pain control, and died 2 months or more after writing a POLST. The probability of HPC usage rate in this group was 87.5%. The next most likely group to use HPC had a cohabitant and received pain control; 64.8% of this group used HPC. Finally, 55.1% of participants who had a cohabitant used HPC, which was a significantly higher proportion than that of participants who did not have a cohabitant (1.7%)., Conclusion: This study provides meaningful clinical evidence to help make decisions on HPC use more easily at an appropriate time., Competing Interests: CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2021 by Korean Society for Hospice and Palliative Care.)