• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.746-759
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was designed to systematically explore and elicit information about terminally ill cancer patients' and primary family caregivers' subjectivity of death. Method: Using Q-methodology, 21 terminally ill cancer patients and 19 primary family caregivers sorted 40 statements during personal interviews. Results: The results of this study show that terminally ill cancer patients have four factors ('Attachment to life', 'Hope for heaven', 'Resignation to reality', 'Avoidance of pain') of response and primary caregivers have four factors('Dependence on religion', 'Faithfulness to reality', 'Obedience to fate', 'Agony of reality'). Comparing the subjectivities of death of terminally ill cancer patients and primary family caregivers, 'Hope for heaven' and 'Dependence on religion' reveal the similarities of their outlook. On the other hand, 'Attachment to life', 'Resignation to reality', 'Avoidance of pain', 'Faithfulness to reality', 'Obedience to fate', 'Agony of reality' reveals different aspects of their outlook. The group of terminally ill cancer patients and their families divided into four types. Type A was 'Attachment to life and Agony of reality', type B was 'Attachment to life and Obedience to fate', type C was 'Hope for heaven and Dependence on religion' and type D was 'Resignation to reality and Faithfulness to reality'. The positive group was C or 'Hope for heaven and Dependence on religion'. Conclusion: There are significant differences found in the subjective structure of death among terminally ill cancer patients and primary family caregivers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an individualized nursing intervention for terminally ill cancer patients and family caregivers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.340-358
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to develop an instrument to showcase Dignity in Care of Terminally Ill Patients for Nurses and to examine its validity and reliability. Methods: A total of 58 preliminary items on dignity in care of terminally ill patients for nurses were selected using content validity analysis and expert opinions on 97 candidate items derived through a literature review and qualitative focus group interviews. Questionnaires were administered to 502 nurses caring for terminally ill cancer patients at hospice and palliative care institutions. The data were analyzed using item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and discriminant validity, and Pearson correlation for criterion validity, reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha. Results: The final instrument consisted of 25 items, with four factors identified through confirmatory factor analysis. Four factors-ethical values and moral attitudes, interaction-based communication, maintaining comfort, professional insight and competence-accounted for 61.8% of the total variance. Cronbach's α for total items was .96, and test-retest reliability of intraclass correlation coefficient was .90. Conclusion: Since its validity and reliability have been verified through various methods, the Dignity in Care Scale of Terminally Ill Patients for Nurses can be used for develop nursing interventions and improve dignity in care of terminally ill patients.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.418-435
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• 1991

The purposes of this study were to find out the effects of hospice care for the quality of life of the terminally - ill patients and to analyze the relationship between the effect of hospice care and the general characteristics of subjects. The subjects of the study were 32 terminally - ill patients hospitalized in the two general hospitals in Seoul, which have the hospice care unit. The data were collected using the questionnaire with interviews. They were done from Sept.28, 1989 to March 20, 1991. The tools used for the research were 17-item questionnaire regarding general characteristics, 42-item questionnaire about the quality of life (11- item for physical, 16 for psychosocial, and 15 for spiritual). The questionnaires were to measure the duality of life by means of the measure instruments of Betty R. Farewell(1989), Stein Kaasa(1988), Palm Pamela(1987), and Hwa-sook Choi(1987). 42 items were used after pre-test. In accordance with each purpose in this study, frequency and percentage were used on the general characteristics of subjects. ANOVA, t-test, and Pearson correlation were employed to evaluate the general characteristics of subjects and different level of quality of life before-and-after hospice care. The results of the study may be summarized as follws : 1. The effects of hospice care. Main Hypothesis : “The quality of life of the terminally - ill patients will be different from before-and-after hospice care” was supported(t＝6.82, df＝31, p＝ .000). Sub Hypothesis 1 : “The quality of life of the terminally - ill patients in the physical aspects will be different from before - and -after hospice care” was not supported(t＝0.07, df＝31, p＝ .946). Sub Hypothesis 2 : “The quality of life of the terminally - ill patients in the psychosocial aspects will be different from before-and-after hospice care” was supported (t＝4.69, df＝31, p＝ .000). Sub Hypothesis 3 : “The quality of life of the terminally - ill patients in the spiritual aspects will be different from before-and-after hospice care” was supported(t＝6.64, df＝31, p＝ .000). 2. Relationship between the general characteristics of subjects and the effects of hospice care. (1) The more the number of family, the higher the quality of life in the psychosocial aspects. (2) The higher the age of the patient, the lower the quality of life in the psychosocial aspects. (3) The high educational level of patients enjoy the high quality of life in general. (4) The high religious level of petients enjoy the higy Quality of life in the spiritual aspects. As a results of analysis above : 1. The most effective aspects of the hospice care to the terminally- ill patients was spiritual aspects. The next effective aspects was psychosocial area. 2. The least effective aspcets of the hospice care to the terminally- ill patients was physical aspects. Further study is needed to improve the quality of life in the physical aspects.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.152-160
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• 2004

Objective : Recently, an increasing portion of cancer patients use various therapies of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) including traditional oriental medicine, which is believed to improve the consequence of cancer according to clinical experience and laboratory data. But the clinical-based systemic statistic validity of these therapies is lacking, so this study was aimed to validate the traditional oriental therapies (TOT) for terminally ill cancer patients. Patients and methods : This retrospective study was performed on 273 patients who were diagnosed with terminally ill cancer in Korea and treated with TOT in the oriental hospital of Daejeon University, from March 1997 to June 2003. We examined the median duration of the terminal period and the correlations between 9 factors and survival of terminally ill cancer patients. Results : During the study period, we could confirm 142 patients' death (52.01%) in 273 subjects. The median length of survival in terminally ill cancer patients was 16 weeks (95%CI 14.0∼20.0) and 40.15% (95%CI 40.07∼40.22) of patients had survived more than 24 weeks. According to Cox's proportional hazard model including gender, age, conventional therapies (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery), performance status and clinical symptoms as independent variables, history of conventional therapies (RR 0.581, 95%CI 0.381∼0.885), higher performance status (RR 1,855, 95%CI 1.454∼2.366) and absence of ascites and pleural effusion (RR 1.631, 95%CI 1.047∼2.538) showed independent prognostic value of survival. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that TOT offer potential benefits for cancer patients at the terminal stage.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2012

Purpose: Most terminally ill cancer patients die from cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome. This study evaluated a prognostic role of plasma leptin levels in terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: This study enrolled 69 terminally ill cancer patients who were aged above 20 years old from July 2009 to July 2010. For univariate analysis, an association between leptin levels and patient's characteristics or other variables was examined using Spearman's correlation analysis, Wilcoxon's rank-sum test or Kruskal-Wallis test, as appropriately. For multivariable analysis, Cox's proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate a clinical significance of plasma leptin levels as a prognostic factor and to determine factors which affect the risk of death in terminally ill cancer patients. Results: A statistically significant positive correlation between plasma leptin levels and survival time was found. Univariate Cox's proportional hazard regression analyses also showed a moderately significant association between plasma leptin levels and survival time. However, after adjusting variables for sex, white blood cell counts, total bilirubin, AST, ALT, albumin and CRP levels, plasma leptin levels were not significantly associated with survival time. Conclusion: No significant association was found between plasma leptin levels and survival time in terminally ill cancer patients. However, this study suggested a prognostic value of plasma leptin levels in gastrointestinal cancer patients.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand family members' experience of deciding to withdraw life-sustaining treatments for terminally-ill patients in an unconscious state. Methods: Data were collected by performing an in-depth interview with eight terminally-ill patients' family members who decided to withdraw life-sustaining treatments. Colaizzi's phenomenological method was used for data analysis. Results: Questions were classified into 12 groups and finally into five categories. The five categories were about family members' frustration with patient's condition, emotional preparation for the patient's death upon medical professionals' recommendation, patient's wishes, exhaustion due to caring and past experiences related to life-sustaining treatment. Conclusion: Using the five categories, hospice and palliative professionals could better understand family members' decision making experience of withdrawing life-sustaining treatments for terminally-ill patients. Based on that, the family members could be provided with appropriate counseling and care, which in turn could improve hospice and palliative care intervention.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.317-326
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• 2018

Objectives: The demand for hospice has been increasing among patients with cancer. This study examined the current hospice referral scenario for terminally ill cancer patients and created a data form to collect hospice information and a modified health information exchange (HIE) form for a more efficient referral system for terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: Surveys were conducted asking detailed information such as medical instruments and patient admission policies of hospices, and interviews were held to examine the current referral flow and any additional requirements. A task force team was organized to analyze the results of the interviews and surveys. Results: Six hospices completed the survey, and 3 physicians, 2 nurses, and 2 hospital staff from a tertiary hospital were interviewed. Seven categories were defined as essential for establishing hospice data. Ten categories and 40 data items were newly suggested for the existing HIE document form. An implementation guide for the Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture developed by Health Level 7 (HL7 CCDA) was also proposed. It is an international standard for interoperability that provides a framework for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information. Based on these changes, a hospice referral scenario for terminally ill cancer patients was designed. Conclusions: Our findings show potential improvements that can be made to the current hospice referral system for terminally ill cancer patients. To make the referral system useful in practice, governmental efforts and investments are needed.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.175-186
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• 2001

To evaluate the effect of informational support by hospice team on family caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients. 22 family caregivers of D University Hospital in Daegu city were participated. The research was conducted from Aug. 16th to Oct. 28th 2000 by using self-reported questionnaires. The instruments used in this study were the Weinert's scale of perceived social support. Spielberger's state anxiety inventory. CES-D. and Ellison and Paloutzian's spiritual well-being scale. The intervention was designed to give educational and counselling program up to 7 times within 4 weeks. Educational and counselling booklets which made by the researcher were used step by step by hospice team, he data were analysed frequency. percentage. Wilcoxon Singed Ranks Test with SPSS Win l0.0/PC. The results obtained from this study were as follows; 1. The perceived social support of family caregivers was significantly increased after ready planned informational support was applied by hospice team(z=-3.045. p=0.002). 2. The anxiety of family caregivers was significantly reduced after ready planned informational support was applied by hospice team(z =-3:348. p=0.001). 3. The depression of family caregivers was significantly reduced after ready planned informational support was applied by hospice team(z=-3.641. p=0.000). 4. The spiritual well-being score of family caregivers was not significantly improved after ready planned informational support was applied by hospice team(z=-0.422. p=0.673). In conclusion. the results of this study clearly suggests that the informational support provided by hospice team not only increased the family caregivers' who are caring for terminally ill cancer patients. Therefor the informational support program designed by researcher for family caregivers who are caring for terminally ill cancer patients should be utilized and expended.

• 한국호스피스완화의료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.12a
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• pp.162-174
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• 2000

The purpose of this hermeneutic study was to investigate the meaning of "good dying" of Chinese terminally ill cancer patients in Taiwan; the factors related to this morning; and the strategies cancer patients used to ensure "good dying". Indepth unstructured interviews, prolonged participant observations, and review of clinical records were selected as the methods for data collection. In the four and one-half month period of data collection, the researcher was in the role of a full time clinical nurse specialist who directly took care of the subject patients in 4 hospitals and in patients' homes. The 20 subject were selected purposively according to selection criteria and various demographic backgrounds. Interview transcripts and field notes comprised the data for analysis. The results were composed by 3 constitutive patterns and 12 themes. Achieving inner peace appeared to herald the good dying state. The "good dying" for Chinese terminally ill cancer patients in Taiwan meant peace of body, peace of mind, and peace of thought. The constitutive pattern of peace of body included 4 themes: (1)minimizing the agony of physical symptoms; (2)short period of dying process without lingering death; (3) cleanliness, neatness, and integrity of the body; and (4) mobility. The constitutive pattern of peace of mind included 5 themes: (1) yielding; (2) non-attachment; (3) not to be lonely; (4) settle down all affairs; and (5) being in a preferred environment and enjoying nature. The third constitutive pattern of peace of thought included 3 themes: (1) getting through day by day without thinking; (2) meaningful life; and (3) expectation that the suffering would be ending. Through understanding of the terminally ill cancer patient' needs in their meanings of "good dying", recommendations can be made for humanistic care. The findings of this study have recommendations for care givers daily contact with dying patients and for medical and nursing education.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.112-118
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music therapy on pain, depression, and anxiety in terminally ill patients. Methods: Twenty patients in the experimental group were provided with music via headphones for 30-40 min at a time as they requested for 2 weeks, whereas no music was provided for the nineteen patients in the control group. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The research instruments included Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Depression & Anxiety Inventory Scale. Data were analyzed using ${\chi}^2$-test, t-test, and Fisher's exact test, using SPSS 15.0. Results: There were significant decreases in the scores of pain at present (t=-2.54, p<.05), depression (t=-2.187, p<.05) and anxiety (Z=-2.114, p<.05) in the experimental group compared to those in the control group. Conclusion: Music therapy is considered non-invasive and inexpensive intervention and can be easily applied to alleviate pain, depression and anxiety for terminally ill patients.