| 1. |
- Strang, Susann, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Experience of Guilt and Strategies for Coping with Guilt in Patients with Severe COPD: A qualitative interview study
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Palliative Care. - : SAGE Publications. - 0825-8597 .- 2369-5293. ; 30:2, s. 108-115
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Guilt is associated with an increased level of mood disturbance and a poorer quality of life. The aim of this study was to explore how patients with severe COPD view and experience guilt and the ways in which they cope with this guilt. A total of 31 COPD patients were interviewed about their perceptions and experiences of guilt. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine the interviews. In the descriptive (manifest) analysis, the categories "not feeling personal guilt" and "experiencing guilt" emerged; in the interpretative (latent) analysis, various strategies for dealing with guilt were identified for example, acceptance or blaming others. Relatively few patients reported that they felt guilt on a conscious level, but those who did expressed anguish, and remorse before God; some felt blamed by others. It is important that healthcare providers acknowledge the guilt that their patients express, since guilt may have adverse effects on the patients' overall health.
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| 2. |
- Strang, Susann, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Palliative care in COPD-web survey in Sweden highlights the current situation for a vulnerable group of patients.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Upsala journal of medical sciences. - : Uppsala Medical Society. - 2000-1967 .- 0300-9734. ; 118:3, s. 181-6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract Background. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common cause of death. Despite the heavy symptom burden in late stages, these patients are relatively seldom referred to specialist palliative care. Methods. A web-based survey concerning medical and organizational aspects of palliative care in COPD was distributed to respiratory physicians in Sweden. There were 93 respondents included in the study. Results. Palliative care issues were regularly discussed with the patients according to a third of the respondents. About half of the respondents worked in settings where established routines for co-operation with palliative units were available at least to some extent. Less than half of the respondents (39%) were aware of current plans to develop palliative care, either as a co-operative effort or within the facility. Palliative care is focused on physical, psychological, social, and existential dimensions, and the proportions of respondents providing support within these dimensions, 'always' or 'often', were 83%, 36%, 32%, and 11%, respectively. Thus, to treat the physical dimensions was perceived as much more obvious than to address the other dimensions. Conclusions. The survey indicates that the priorities and resources for palliative care in COPD are insufficient in Sweden. The data, despite limitations, reveal a lack of established team-work with specialized palliative care units and actual plans for such co-operation.
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| 3. |
- Browall, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Existential encounters: Nurses' descriptions of critical incidents in end-of-life cancer care
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Oncology Nursing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-3889 .- 1532-2122. ; 18:6, s. 636-644
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nurses working with cancer patients in end of life care need to be prepared to encounter patients' psychosocial and spiritual distress. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of existential situations when caring for patients severely affected by cancer. Methods and sample: Nurses (registered and enrolled) from three urban in-patient hospices, an oncology clinic and a surgery clinic and a palliative homecare team were, prior to the start of a training program, invited to write down their experiences of a critical incident (CI), in which existential issues were featured. Results: Eighty-eight CIs were written by 83 nurses. The CIs were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Two main themes were found: Encounters with existential pain experiences, which concerned facing death and facing losses; and Encountering experiences of hope, which concerned balancing honesty, and desire to live. Conclusions: This study points out that health care professionals need to be aware of patients' feelings of abandonment in exposed situations such as patients' feelings of existential loneliness. That there are some patients that express a desire to die and this makes the nurses feel uncomfortable and difficult to confront these occurrences and its therefore important to listen to patients' stories, regardless of care organization, in order to gain access to patients' inner existential needs.
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| 4. |
- Browall, Maria, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Health care staff's opinions about existential issues among patients with cancer.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Palliative & supportive care. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1478-9523 .- 1478-9515. ; 8:1, s. 59-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore health care staff's opinions about what existential issues are important to patients with cancer and staff's responsibility when existential issues are raised by patients. METHOD: Four focus group interviews were conducted with health care staff (N = 23) at an in-patient hospice, on an oncology ward, on a surgical ward, and with a palliative home health care team. The focus group interviews focused on two questions, first, about health care staff's opinions about patients' important existential questions and, second, about health care staff's responsibility when existential issues are raised by the patient. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by qualitative content analysis into subcategories and categories. RESULTS: Four categories and 11 subcategories emerged from the first question. The first category, "life and death," was based on joy of living and thoughts of dying. The second category "meaning," consisted of acceptance, reevaluation, hope, and faith. The third category, "freedom of choice," consisted of responsibility and integrity, and the fourth and last category, "relationships and solitude," consisted of alleviation, dependency, and loss. One category emerged from the second question about the health care staff's responsibility, "to achieve an encounter," which was based on the subcategories time and space, attitudes, and invitation and confirmation. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The strength of this study was that the findings were fairly congruent in different settings and in different geographical areas. Health care staff were aware of the importance of existential issues to patients. The existential issues, mentioned by health care staff, are similar to findings from studies conducted among patients, which is another strength of the present study. Health care staff are also confident about how to act when these issues are raised by the patients. The challenge for the future is to implement the findings from this study among health care staff in different settings.
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| 5. |
- Ek, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Death and caring for dying patients : exploring first-year students´descriptive experiences
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Palliative Nursing. - : Mark Allen Group. - 1357-6321 .- 2052-286X. ; 20:10, s. 509-515
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: To describe first-year nursing students' experiences of witnessing death and providing end-of-life care.Methods: This study is part of a larger longitudinal project. Interviews (n=17) were conducted with nursing students at the end of their first year of education. To analyse the interviews (lived-experience descriptions), a thematic analysis, ‘a search for meaning’ (Van Manen, 1997) was applied.Results: The results are presented within the framework of four separate themes: (1) The thought of death is more frightening than the actual experience, (2) Daring to approach the dying patient and offering something of oneself, (3) The experience of not sufficing in the face of death and (4) Being confronted with one's own feelings.Conclusion: Nursing students require continuous support and opportunity to reflect and discuss their experiences about caring for dying patients and confronting death throughout the entirety of their education. In addition, teachers and clinical supervisors need to give support using reflective practice to help students to develop confidence in their capacity for caring for dying patients.
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| 6. |
- Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Development of a training intervention of existential support to patients with cancer.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society’s 2nd European Regional Conference i Göteborg, Sverige, 2014-06-16 – 06-18..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Existential issues in patients with cancer need to be highlighted, but a literature review revealed lack of intervention studies suitable for support in existential crisis in daily healthcare. Aim: To develop and evaluate an intervention targeting existential issues in patients with cancer. Method: First, patients’ important existential issues were defined through a literature review and found to be supporting and detrimental existential issues. Secondly, focus group interviews with healthcare staff working with patients with cancer identified their patients’ existential issues as life and death, meaning, freedom, and relationships and solitude. The healthcare staff furthermore recognized their responsibility to achieve an encounter with the patients, but seemed to need more training in delivering existential support. Thereafter, the intervention was designed as training with individual and group reflections to healthcare staff concerning meaning, death, freedom, and loneliness with five sessions held biweekly. Prior to the training, the staff wrote critical incidents in which existential issues were brought up. The main outcome was determined to be the staff’s confidence in communication. Another potential outcome was the staff’s attitude to care for dying patients. The design was pilot-tested in a surgical clinic. Results: The main intervention study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial with 102 registered nurses and enrolled nurses from hospice, oncology clinic and palliative homecare team. The confidence in communication increased significantly in the training group from baseline to both first and the second follow-ups, whereas attitudes to care for dying patients did not change. Conclusion: Although positive outcome, the project needs to be further tested, to establish the stability of the intervention, broadening the subject groups, and exploring possible extension of the training. In the next step patients’ and staff’ perceptions of given support will be explored.
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| 7. |
- Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Patients’, family members’ and healthcare staffs’ opinions about existential issues as a base for an educational intervention
- 2011
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Ingår i: BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. - : BMJ. - 2045-4368 .- 2045-435X. ; 1:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective To explore patients', family members' and healthcare staff's opinions about existential issues important to patients with cancer and their relatives. Methods Two integrative literature reviews were conducted about existential issues among cancer patients and relatives, and interventions to meet these issues. Four focus groups were conducted with healthcare staff working with cancer patients at different stages about patients' existential issues, and staff's responsibility when existential issues are raised. Results In the patient review, existential issues were divided into two themes: struggle to maintain self-identity and threats to self-identity. Relatives' existential issues concerned living both in and beyond the presence of death, with reminders of death, compelling them to respond to life close to death and seek support. Few interventions directed to patients or relatives applicable to everyday healthcare practice were found. Focus groups with staff revealed four categories of patients' existential issues, life and death, meaning, freedom of choice, relationships and solitude. According to staff, their responsibility concerned achieving an encounter with the patient. Conclusion Results from three studies are congruent in that, patients, relatives and staff agree, although in different ways, about the importance of existential issues to patients and relatives. Healthcare staff was aware of the importance of existential issues and are to some extent confident about how to act when these issues are raised by the patients. Ongoing studies The project group now continues implementing findings from these studies in an educational intervention to healthcare staff in different settings, and planning interventions to patients and relatives.
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| 8. |
- Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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The Swedish Version of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale : Aspects of Validity and Factors Influencing Nurses' and Nursing Students' Attitudes.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Cancer Nursing. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0162-220X .- 1538-9804. ; 37:1, s. E1-E11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND:: Nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying persons need to be explored. The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale has not previously been used in Swedish language. OBJECTIVES:: The objectives of this study were to compare FATCOD scores among Swedish nurses and nursing students with those from other languages, to explore the existence of 2 subscales, and to evaluate influences of experiences on attitudes toward care of dying patients. METHODS:: A descriptive, cross-sectional, and predictive design was used. The FATCOD scores of Swedish nurses from hospice, oncology, surgery clinics, and palliative home care and nursing students were compared with published scores from the United States, Israel, and Japan. Descriptive statistics, t tests, and factor and regression analyses were used. RESULTS:: The sample consisted of 213 persons: 71 registered nurses, 42 enrolled nurses, and 100 nursing students. Swedish FATCOD mean scores did not differ from published means from the United States and Israel, but were significantly more positive than Japanese means. In line with Japanese studies, factor analyses yielded a 2-factor solution. Total FATCOD and subscales had low Cronbach α's. Hospice and palliative team nurses were more positive than oncology and surgery nurses to care for dying patients. CONCLUSIONS:: Although our results suggest that the Swedish FATCOD may comprise 2 distinct scales, the total scale may be the most adequate and applicable for use in Sweden. Professional experience was associated with nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying patients. IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE:: Care culture might influence nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying patients; the benefits of education need to be explored.
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| 9. |
- Henoch, Ingela, et al.
(författare)
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The Swedish version of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) : Aspects of validity and factors influencing nurses' and nursing students' attitudes
- 2014
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Ingår i: Cancer Nursing. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0162-220X .- 1538-9804. ; 37:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying persons need to be explored. The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale has not previously been used in Swedish language.Objectives: The objectives of this study were to compare FATCOD scores among Swedish nurses and nursing students with those from other languages, to explore the existence of 2 subscales, and to evaluate influences of experiences on attitudes toward care of dying patients.Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, and predictive design was used. The FATCOD scores of Swedish nurses from hospice, oncology, surgery clinics, and palliative home care and nursing students were compared with published scores from the United States, Israel, and Japan. Descriptive statistics, t tests, and factor and regression analyses were used.Results: The sample consisted of 213 persons: 71 registered nurses, 42 enrolled nurses, and 100 nursing students. Swedish FATCOD mean scores did not differ from published means from the United States and Israel, but were significantly more positive than Japanese means. In line with Japanese studies, factor analyses yielded a 2-factor solution. Total FATCOD and subscales had low Cronbach [alpha]'s. Hospice and palliative team nurses were more positive than oncology and surgery nurses to care for dying patients.Conclusions: Although our results suggest that the Swedish FATCOD may comprise 2 distinct scales, the total scale may be the most adequate and applicable for use in Sweden. Professional experience was associated with nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying patients.Implication for Practice: Care culture might influence nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying patients; the benefits of education need to be explored.
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| 10. |
- Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Training Intervention for Health Care Staff in the Provision of Existential Support to Patients With Cancer : A Randomized, Controlled Study
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. - : Elsevier. - 0885-3924 .- 1873-6513. ; 46:6, s. 785-794
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, existential issues become more compelling. Throughout the illness trajectory, patients with cancer are cared for in oncology wards, by home care teams or in hospices. Nurses working with these patients are sometimes aware of the patients' existential needs but do not feel confident when discussing these issues.Objectives: To determine the effects of a training intervention, where the focus is on existential issues and nurses' perceived confidence in communication and their attitude toward caring for dying patients.Methods: This was a randomized, controlled trial with a training intervention comprising theoretical training in existential issues combined with individual and group reflection. In total, 102 nurses in oncology and hospice wards and in palliative home care teams were randomized to a training or non-training group. Primary outcomes, confidence in communication, and attitude toward the care of dying patients were measured at baseline, immediately after the training, and five to six months later.Results: Confidence in communication improved significantly in the training group from baseline (before the training) to both the first and second follow-up, that is, immediately after the training and five months later. The attitude toward caring for the dying did not improve in the training group.Conclusion: This study shows that short-term training with reflection improves the confidence of health care staff when communicating, which is important for health care managers with limited resources. Further studies are needed to explore how patients experience the communication skills of health care staff after such training.
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