The impact of eurythmy therapy on stress coping strategies and health-related quality of life in healthy, moderately stressed adults

Background

‘Stress’ and ‘health-related quality of life’ (HRQoL) are two important theoretical constructs for modern therapy evaluation with clinical relevance. Eurythmy therapy (EYT) is a mind–body-therapy derived from anthroposophic medicine with promising effects on heart rate variability (HRV), HRQoL and disease scores. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of EYT on stress coping strategies (SCS) and HRQoL in a controlled study with moderately stressed participants.

Methods

68 healthy, moderately stressed adults (mean age: 42.2; SD: 8.2) performed 10 h of EYT in a group setting over a period of six weeks. A non-randomised control group of 22 healthy adults (mean age: 43.6; SD: 13.7) received no intervention and did only complete the questionnaires at the same data points. Outcomes were measured before and after the intervention (AVEM & SF-36).

Results

A significant impact on SCS was found in seven AVEM scales (MANOVA, F (1/74) = 4.59; p = .04). With regard to changes in risk pattern affiliation (AVEM), 24% of the participants receiving EYT (n = 55) changed over time from a risky stress coping pattern to a healthier pattern. Concerning the HRQoL four normally distributed scales of the SF-36 (‘vitality’, ‘social functioning’, ‘mental health’ and ‘physical functioning’) showed a significant group × time interaction favouring the EYT group (MANOVA, F (1/74) = 17.26; p < .001). Statistically and clinically relevant mean differences over time of at least eight scale points were found for ‘role physical’, ‘bodily pain’, ‘vitality’ and ‘mental health’, and of at least 15 scale points for ‘role emotional’ and ‘social functioning’.

Conclusions

A six-week period of EYT training can result in a significant reduction of stress and consequently improve QoL. Because a significant proportion of participants had high levels of stress at baseline the results suggest a health-enhancing benefit of EYT that may have clinical potential for prevention of stress and associated disorders in healthy individuals and possibly in patients with chronic diseases, for example.     

Subjective dysphagia in older care home residents: A cross-sectional,multi-centre point prevalence measurement

Background

Dysphagia has been found to be strongly associated with aspiration pneumonia in frail older people. Aspiration pneumonia is causing high hospitalization rates, morbidity, and often death. Better insight in the prevalence of (subjective) dysphagia in frail older people may improve its early recognition and treatment.

Objective

First, to assess the prevalence of subjective dysphagia in care home residents in the Netherlands. Second, to assess the associations of subjective dysphagia with potential risk factors of dysphagia.

Design

Retrospective data-analysis of a cross-sectional, multi-centre point prevalence measurement.

Setting

119 care homes in the Netherlands.

Participants

Data of 8119 care home residents aged 65 years or older were included and analyzed.

Methods

Subjective dysphagia was assessed by a resident's response to a dichotomous question with regard to experiencing swallowing problems. If a resident was not able to respond (e.g. residents with dementia or aphasia), the question was answered by the ward care provider, or the resident's file was consulted for registered swallowing complaints and/or dysphagia. Several residents’ data were collected: gender, age, (number of) diseases, the presence of malnutrition, the Care Dependency Scale score, and the body mass index.

Results

Subjective dysphagia was found in 751 (9%) residents. A final model for subjective dysphagia after multivariate backward stepwise regression analysis revealed eight significant variables: age (B −0.022), Care Dependency Scale score (B −0.985), ‘malnutrition’ (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.31–1.90), ‘comorbidity’ (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.01–1.14), and the disease clusters ‘dementia’ (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.45–0.66), ‘nervous system disorder’ (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.20–1.99), ‘cardiovascular disease’ (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.67–0.99) and ‘cerebrovascular disease/hemiparesis’ (OR 1.74; 95% CI 1.45–2.10).

Conclusion

It seems justified to conclude that subjective dysphagia is a relevant care problem in older care home residents in the Netherlands. Care Dependency Scale score, ‘malnutrition’, and the disease clusters ‘dementia’, ‘nervous system disorder’, and ‘cerebrovascular disease/hemiparesis’ were associated with the presence of subjective dysphagia in this study. Age, ‘comorbidity’ and ‘cardiovascular disease’ showed very small influence.     

An instrument to assess nurses' and care assistants' self-efficacy to provide a palliative approach to older people in residential aged care: a validation study

Objective

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the ‘Palliative care self-efficacy scale’, an instrument designed to assess clinicians’ degree of confidence in engaging in patient and family interactions at the end-of-life.

Design

The instrument was administered to 405 aged care professionals employed in nine aged care facilities. Exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency statistics were undertaken.

Results

A two-factor solution of the ‘Palliative care self-efficacy scale’ was extracted with factor loadings above the 0.4 cutoff. Cronbach's alpha of the scale and subscales ranged from 0.87 to 0.92. The ‘Palliative care self-efficacy scale’ demonstrates good validity and reliability.

Conclusions

The ‘Palliative care self-efficacy scale’ can be a useful tool in assessing and monitoring clinicians’ perceived capacity to provide a palliative approach. Further evaluation in other samples and settings is required.     

Do written mandatory accreditation standards for residential care positively model learning organizations? Textual and critical discourse analysis

Background

Unprecedented global population ageing accompanied by increasing complexity of aged care present major challenges of quality in aged care. In the business literature, Senge's theory of adaptive learning organisations offers a model of organisational quality. However, while accreditation of national standards is an increasing mechanism for achieving quality in aged care, there are anecdotal concerns it creates a ‘minimum standards compliance mentality’ and no evidence about whether it reinforces learning organisations.

Objective

The research question was ‘Do mandatory national accreditation standards for residential aged care, as they are written, positively model learning organisations?’.

Method

Automatic text analysis was combined with critical discourse analysis to analyse the presence of learning concepts from Senge's learning organisation theory in an exhaustive sample of national accreditation standards from 7 countries. The two stages of analysis were: (1) quantitative mapping of the presence of learning organisation concepts in standards using Bayesian-based textual analytics software and (2) qualitative critical discourse analysis to further examine how the language of standards so identified may be modelling learning organisation concepts.

Results

The learning concepts ‘training’, ‘development’, ‘knowledge’, and ‘systems’ are present with relative frequencies of 19%, 11%, 10%, and 10% respectively in the 1944 instances, in paragraph-sized text blocks, considered. Concepts such as ‘team’, ‘integration’, ‘learning’, ‘change’ and ‘innovation’ occur with 7%, 6%, 5%, 5%, and 1% relative frequencies respectively. Learning concepts tend to co-occur with negative rather than positive sentiment language in the 3176 instances in text blocks containing sentiment language. Critical discourse analysis suggested that standards generally use the language of organisational change and learning in limited ways that appear to model ‘learning averse’ communities of practice and organisational cultures.

Conclusion

The aged care quality challenge and the role of standards need rethinking. All standards implicitly or explicitly model an organisation of some type. If standards can model a limited and negative learning organisation language, they could model a well-developed and positive learning organisation language. In the context of the global aged care crisis, the modelling of learning organisations is probably critical for minimal competence in residential aged care and certainly achievable in the language of standards.     

Early miscarriage as ‘matter out of place’: An ethnographic study of nursing practice in a hospital gynaecological unit

Background

Early miscarriage has been conceptualised as loss and bereavement where nurses are urged to provide sympathetic, psychological care for women. However, the reality of women's experience is also about blood, ‘dirt’ and failure which are under explored in the literature.

Objective

To explore the management and care of women having an early miscarriage within a hospital setting.

Design

A qualitative, ethnographic study.

Setting

A gynaecological unit consisting of an early pregnancy clinic and two gynaecological wards in a general hospital in an urban area of Wales, United Kingdom.

Participants

The first group was a purposive, volunteer sample of eight women who had experienced an early miscarriage and were admitted to hospital for active management of their miscarriage. The second was a purposive, volunteer sample of 16 hospital health professionals actively involved in the care of women having an early miscarriage. This included 10 nurses, three doctors and three ultrasonographers.

Methods

Three main methods were employed. Firstly, 20 months participant observation working alongside gynaecological nurses in a gynaecological unit. Secondly, documentary analysis of key documents such as nursing care plans. Finally, in-depth interviews with women who had experienced early miscarriage and hospital health professionals involved in their care.

Results

Three key categories emerged; ‘first signs and confirmation’, ‘losing the baby’ and ‘the aftermath’. ‘First signs’ relates to the women's experiences when first realising that their pregnancy is under threat. ‘Losing the baby’ further explores women's accounts of their experience and the ‘aftermath’ relates to the long term impact of miscarriage on them and their lives. This paper focuses on the women's experiences of the physical manifestations of miscarriage in ‘losing the baby’. Drawing on anthropological literature and the concepts of dirt and pollution, it is argued that miscarriage for both women and health professionals can be considered as ambiguous and that miscarriage and the early passage of the foetus can be seen as ‘matter out of place’.

Conclusion

This exploration of how women were managed in a hospital setting reinforced the notion of the ambiguous nature of miscarriage and supports the position that miscarriage may be considered as atypical bereavement. Furthermore, an analysis is offered of the significance of the vaginal blood loss as polluting and gives insights into how nurses manage this ambiguity.     

The applicability of a recovery approach to nursing people with dementia

Objectives

Recent developments in nursing to people with mental health conditions of working age have been underpinned by the recovery approach. This paper critically reviews the idea of recovery in relationship to people with dementia and examines its applicability to dementia care nursing.

Design

The paper critically reviews literature relating to the use recovery approach and the people with dementia, particularly their nursing care. The paper identifies common ideas within two approaches and suggests how the recovery approach may underpin nursing care to people with dementia.

Data sources

A search of CINAHL, Medline and PsycINFO was undertaken from 1987 onwards using keywords ‘recovery’, ‘nursing’ and ‘dementia’.

Results

The paper found that the recovery approach shares many ideas with person-centred approaches to dementia care and illustrates this in relationship to well-being, social inclusion, self-management, and hope.

Conclusion

The paper concludes by suggesting that dementia care nursing should draw on ideas taken from the recovery approach and identifies each approach drawing on ideas that have come together in postpsychiatry.     

Caring about caring: Developing a model to implement compassionate relationship centred care in an older people care setting

Aim

This study actively involved older people, staff and relatives in agreeing a definition of compassionate relationship-centred care and identifying strategies to promote such care in acute hospital settings for older people. It was a major component of a three year programme (the Leadership in Compassionate Care Programme, LCCP) seeking to integrate compassionate care across practice and educational environments.

Background

Compassionate caring and promoting dignity are key priorities for policy, practice and research worldwide, being central to the quality of care for patients and families, and job satisfaction for staff. Therapeutic relationships are essential to achieving excellence in care but little is known about how to develop and sustain such relationships in a culture that increasingly focuses on throughput and rapid turnover.

Approach and methods

The study used appreciative inquiry and a range of methods including participant observation, interviews, story telling and group discussions to actively engage older people, relatives and staff. A process of immersion crystallization was used to analyze data with staff as co-analysts.

Findings

The study adds considerably to the conceptualization of compassionate, relationship-centred care and provides a model to aid staff deliver such care in practice, based on ‘appreciative caring conversations’ that enable all parties to gain two forms of ‘person and relational knowledge’ about ‘who people are and what matters to them’ and ‘how people feel about their experience’. Such knowledge enables staff, patients and carers to ‘work together to shape the way things are done’. The study generated a model called the 7 ‘C's that captures in detail the factors necessary to promote ‘appreciative caring conversations’.

Conclusions and implications

The study demonstrates that engaging in ‘appreciative caring conversations’ promotes compassionate, relationship-centred care but that these conversations involve practitioners taking risks. Such ‘relational practices’ must therefore be valued and accorded status. Staff require appropriate support, facilitation and strong leadership if these practices are to flourish.     

Surviving a critical illness through mutually being there with each other: A grounded theory study

Objectives

The objectives of this study were to conduct a theoretical analysis of the critically ill patients’ perceptions of the impact of informal support and care from their main family carer (MFC) during the time of their stay in the hospital (ICU) and thereafter (and vice versa).

Research design and setting

The grounded theory method was used to investigate the target phenomenon in the ICU of a large general hospital, and three months later in the community after the patients were discharged. Qualitative data were collected through participant observation and interviews for constant comparative analysis until theoretical saturation.

Results

A substantive theory emerged and it illustrated and described the dynamic actions and interactions between critically ill patients and their MFC during the process of recovery. Three categories, 1) being there with, 2) coping and 3) self-relying, comprise the essential components of this theory.

Conclusion

The theory represents the core process of ‘surviving a critical illness through mutually being there with each other’ in which both the patients and their MFC are involved. Implications and recommendations were proposed to provide a basis for further research and nursing practice on the phenomenon of informal support and care of critically ill patients and their recovery.     

Family involvement in the care of a hospitalised child: a questionnaire survey of Mozambican family caregivers

Background

Previous research from Western and Eastern countries shows that parents of a sick child want to be involved and to participate during a child's hospitalisation. However, the stay can be stressful and parents have their own needs. Conditions and cultural constructs are different among countries.No published study on parents’ or close family caregivers’ involvement and participation during paediatric hospitalization has been found for an African population.

Objective

The aim of this study was to articulate Mozambican family caregivers’ expressed needs, expectations and experiences of hospital care and hospital staff.

Setting and participants

The study was conducted at the Paediatric Clinic at the Central Hospital in Maputo, Mozambique. A sample of 100 family caregivers was chosen, representing one third of all family caregivers of hospitalised children over a one-month period.

Design and method

A cross-sectional study was conducted, using a questionnaire.

Results

Participating Mozambican family caregivers have, for the most part, a low level of education and reduced socio-economic conditions. This made the admission to and the time in hospital hard to cope with, and difficult for them to understand. The study showed that they were badly informed of anything to do with hospitalisation. They needed explanation and support to make the hospital situation less intimidating.Hospital staff's behaviour was to some extent characterised by attentiveness, kindness, and sympathy, but it was also shown that the family caregivers had experiences of communication difficulties and of being neglected.

Conclusion

The result, in this Sub-Saharan African context, shows that parents or family caregivers have a desire to be involved in the care of their hospitalised child, much the same as has been shown in studies in Western and Eastern countries. But Mozambican family caregivers’ expectations, needs and experiences are rooted not only in poverty, their household situation and the health system, but also in the hierarchical construct of their culture. All these factors influence their communication and relationships. Hospital staff is perceived to be superior. To empower the family caregivers to take part in the caring process in a cultural sensitive way is therefore of great importance.     

Factors influencing the ability to self-manage diabetes for adults living with type 1 or 2 diabetes

Background

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common non-communicable long-term conditions in the world and is linked to high mortality, morbidity, loss of quality of life and high social and economic cost. Diabetes presents a serious health challenge, as it is a significant cause of ill health and premature death. Identification of barriers to self-care is critical for finding ways to reduce the adverse effects of this long-term condition.

Objective

This review identified issues that influence ability to self-care for adults living with diabetes types 1 or 2.

Design

A systematic review of qualitative research studies using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) approach.

Data sources

An electronic search of Health Sciences databases for primary published qualitative studies was conducted April 2011. Reference lists of included articles were reviewed to identify other potential papers.

Review methods

Studies that investigated issues identified by individuals living with diabetes type 1 or 2 that influenced ability to self-care were analysed using a process of meta-aggregation. Meta-aggregation involves the extraction of findings, the synthesis of findings through grouping or aggregating similar findings into themes and labelling with appropriate names and a statement that defines the theme and meta-aggregating the themes into overarching syntheses. Methodological quality was assessed by two reviewers against the JBI quality appraisal criteria for qualitative studies.

Results

Thirty-seven qualitative studies were reviewed. The main issues impacting on an individual's ability to self-care were ‘communication’, ‘education’, ‘personal factors’, ‘provider issues’ and ‘support’. Multiple barriers were found to influence the day-to-day management of diabetes. Key issues related to communication with health care providers, an education programme that allowed for incremental knowledge gain and experiential and vicarious learning and the provision of culturally sensitive care.

Conclusions

People living with diabetes face many issues in their day-to-day management of the disease, compounded by vulnerability to wider situational, cultural and social issues. Self-care ability is a dynamic, evolutionary process that varies from person to person and involves moving from a disease focused existence to maximising life.     

Action research studies in the intensive care setting: a systematic review

Objectives

To review published studies using action research in the intensive care unit (ICU) in order to provide an intervention framework to improve clinical outcomes.

Design

Systematic review.

Methods

Searches of the electronic databases: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); Scopus, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and the World Wide Web were undertaken using MeSH key words including: ‘action research’; ‘health care research’, ‘health services evaluation’; ‘intensive care unit’. Reference lists of retrieved articles was also undertaken to identify further articles. All studies were reviewed by two authors using a critical appraisal tool.

Results

The search strategy generated 195 articles. Only 21 studies projects were identified using action research in the ICU. The majority of studies were conducted in the United Kingdom. The participants in the action research studies ranged from 6 to 253. Predominately studies using action research involved nurses in collaboration with patients and family and other health care practitioners to address identified problems in the ICU.

Conclusions

Based on this review it appears that action research is a promising methodological approach to address clinical practice improvement in the ICU. Studies retrieved focussed primarily on process and formative evaluation but not on clinical outcomes. There is a need to incorporate outcome assessment in action research in the ICU to increase the framework of action research to improve clinical outcomes.     

The experience of fatigue among elderly women with chronic heart failure

Background

Fatigue is a common and distressing symptom in chronic heart failure (CHF). Most of the current methods for evaluating patients' symptoms fail to consider the meaning or importance that these symptoms have for the patient.

Aim

To illuminate the lived experience of fatigue among elderly women with CHF.

Method

Narrative interviews were conducted with 10 women with CHF, aged 73-89 years. Interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis.

Results

The findings are presented in two themes and five subthemes. The first theme, ‘living with the loss of physical energy’, was based on three subthemes describing the experience of fatigue: ‘experiencing a substantial presence of feebleness and unfamiliar bodily sensations’, ’experiencing unpredictable variations in physical ability’, and ‘needing help from others in daily life’. The second theme, ‘striving for independence while being aware of deteriorating health’, describes how the women managed their life situation; it was based on two subthemes: ‘acknowledging one's remaining abilities’, and ‘being forced to adjust and struggle for independence’.

Conclusions

Fatigue was experienced as loss of physical energy, leading to discrepancies between intention and capacity. The will to reduce dependency on others involved a daily struggle against fatigue.     

Japanese people's preference for place of end-of-life care and death: a population-based nationwide survey

Context

Japanese people's preferred place of end-of-life care may be affected by their experiences, perceptions, and knowledge related to the end of life.

Objectives

The aims of this study were to clarify the Japanese population's preferences for the place of end-of-life care and death and to identify the determinants of each choice of preferred place of end-of-life care within their experiences, perceptions, and knowledge.

Methods

A total of 2000 Japanese people aged 40–79 years participated in a cross-sectional nationwide survey.

Results

Fifty-five percent (n = 1042) responded. Regarding place of end-of-life care, approximately 44% of the general population preferred home, 15% preferred hospital, 19% preferred palliative care unit, 10% preferred public nursing home, 2% preferred private nursing home, and the remaining 11% was unsure. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the following factors affect people’s preferences regarding place of care: 1) experiences, such as “visiting hospital regularly” and “experiencing home death of relatives,” 2) perceptions, such as “giving due thought to their own death on a daily basis” and “perceiving lower home palliative care costs to be appropriate after comparing hospital admission fees,” and 3) knowledge of “home care nursing” and “24-hour home palliative system by physicians and nurses using insurance.” These factors correlated with preference for hospital, palliative care unit, or public nursing home, when compared with the preference of home.

Conclusion

The present findings may help to develop an effective end-of-life care system in Japan, in line with people’s various preferred locations for such care.     

Is chiropractic paediatric care safe? A best evidence topic

Objective

To review the literature as to the safety of paediatric chiropractic care and to offer recommendations for congruent consistent terminology use.

Design

Best Evidence Topic.

Methods

Formulation of a clinical question based on a patient query. PubMed, Index to Chiropractic Literature and the Cochrane Library were searched on the 19th of June 2010. A total of nine specifically relevant articles were retrieved and critically reviewed.

Results

The reviewed published chiropractic literature suggests a rate of 0.53% to 1% mild adverse events (AE) associated with chiropractic paediatric manipulative therapy (PMT). Put in terms of individual patients, between one in 100 to 200 patients presenting for chiropractic care; or in terms of patient visits, between one mild AE per 1310 visits to one per 1812 visits. For a comparison, Osteopathic PMT have a reported rate of 9%, and medical practitioners utilising PMT under the auspices of ‘chiropractic therapy’ have reported a rate of 6%. No serious AE has been reported in the literature since 1992 and no death possibly associated with chiropractic PMT has been reported for over 40 years.

Conclusion

The application of modern chiropractic paediatric care within the outlined framework is safe. A reasonable caution to the parent/guardian is that one child per 100 to 200 attending may have a mild AE, with irritability or soreness lasting less than 24 h, resolving without the need for additional care beyond initial chiropractic recommendations.     

Inter- and intrarater reliability of the Waterlow pressure sore risk scale: a systematic review

Background

The Waterlow scale is one of the pressure ulcer risk assessment scales which are frequently criticised for their low reliability. It is widely used in the United Kingdom, Europe and all over the world.

Objectives

The study objectives were to systematically review and evaluate inter- and intrarater reliability and/or agreement of the whole Waterlow scale and its single items. The overall aim was to find out if the Waterlow scale is applicable to daily clinical practice.

Design

Systematic review.

Data sources

MEDLINE (1985-June 2008), EMBASE (1985-June 2008), CINAHL (1985-June 2008) and World Wide Web.

Review methods

Selections of relevant studies, data extractions, recalculations of reliability and agreement coefficients, and study quality assessments were independently conducted by two researchers. Designs, methods and results of relevant studies were systematically described, compared and interpreted.

Results

Eight research reports were identified containing the results of nine inter- and intrarater reliability and agreement studies. Only three studies were considered as high quality studies. The Waterlow scale in clinical practice was examined in four studies. Interrater agreement for the total score varied between 0% and 57%. Taking into account any differences of up to two points the total score agreement increased to up to 86%. Median ranges of differences among raters scoring single items were high for ‘poor nutrition’, ‘skin type’, and ‘mobility’. Recalculated intrarater reliability for one researcher was ICC(2, 1) = 0.97 (95% C.I. 0.94-0.98).

Conclusions

Empirical evidence is rare regarding reliability and agreement among nurses when using the Waterlow scale in clinical practice. Interrater agreement for the total score is comparable to other pressure ulcer risk assessment scales. The interrater reliability has never been examined. Therefore, evaluation of reliability and agreement and evaluation of the applicability of the Waterlow scale to clinical practice are limited. It is very likely that the items ‘poor nutrition’, ‘mobility’, and ‘skin type’ are the most difficult items to rate.     

Negotiated dying: a grounded theory of how nurses shape withdrawal of treatment in hospital critical care units

Background

The process of withdrawal of treatment in critical care environments has created ethical and moral dilemmas in relation to end of life care in the UK and elsewhere. Common within this discourse is the differing demands made on health professionals as they strive to provide care for the dying patient and family members. Despite reports that withdrawal of treatment is a source of tension between those nurses and doctors involved in the process, the role of the nurse in facilitating withdrawal of treatment has received relatively little attention.

Objectives

To illustrate how differing dying trajectories impact on decision-making underpinning withdrawal of treatment processes, and what nurses do to shape withdrawal of treatment.

Design

Qualitative methods of enquiry using clinical vignettes and applying Charmaz's grounded theory method.

Methods and settings

Single audio-recorded qualitative interviews with thirteen critical care nurses from four intensive care specialities: cardiac; general; neurological and renal were carried out. Interviews were facilitated by an end-of-life vignette developed with clinical collaborators.

Findings

Across critical care areas four key dying trajectories were identified. These trajectories were shaped by contested boundaries associated with delayed or stalled decision-making around how withdrawal of treatment should proceed. Nurses provided end of life care (including collaborative and action-oriented skills) to shape the dying trajectory of patients so as to satisfy the wishes of the patient and family, and their own professional aims.

Conclusions

Differing views as to when withdrawal of treatment should commence and how it should be operationalised appeared to be underpinned by the requirements of the role that health professionals fulfil, with doctors focusing on making withdrawal of treatment decisions, and nurse's being tasked with operationalising the processes that constitute it. Multidisciplinary teams need a ‘shared’ understanding of each other's roles, responsibilities, aims, and motivations when planning and implementing the dying trajectory of withdrawal of treatment.     

Predictors of home death of home palliative cancer care patients: a cross-sectional nationwide survey

Objectives

To identify factors influencing the place of death among home palliative cancer care patients, focusing on the role of nurses in terms of pre- and post-discharge from hospital to home care settings.

Design, settings and participants

A cross-sectional nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted at 1000 randomly selected homecare agencies in Japan. The questionnaires were completed by primary community nurses of home palliative patients just after their discharge. A total of 568 responses were analyzed (effective response rate, 69%).

Results

Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed the following independent factors of place of death among those patients: desire for home death at referral by both patient and family caregiver; caregiver relationship to patient as daughter or daughter-in-law; totally bedridden functional status of patient; patient not suffering from depression and/or anxiety at referral; patients and caregivers duly informed about the dying process/death in detail, as well as instructed by community nurses about pain management and how to treat/prevent bedsores in home care settings.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated the importance of both the hospital and community nurses’ role in increasing the patients’ chance of dying at home. Hospital nurses should support early transfer to home palliative care according to their assessment of the desire of patient/family caregiver for home death, the patients’ clinical status, and caregivers’ ability to provide patient care at home. Community nurses should inform patients/family caregiver in detail about the dying process/death just after discharge, relieve patient pain, treat/prevent bedsores, and instruct family caregivers on their symptom control.