Aim: People diagnosed with cancer and in end-of-life care may have a range of needs. These needs may be inadequately expressed, recognized, or responded to by family members and health-care providers. The present study aimed at exploring health-care providers’ perceptions of the interpersonal needs, psychological needs, and unfinished business among terminally ill cancer patients during the end-of-life care. Methods: The sample consisted of 11 health-care providers, including physicians, counselors, social workers, and nurses from the end-of-life care settings in Bengaluru, India. A cross-sectional qualitative design was used and involved semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Results: Thematic analysis identified themes related to health-care providers’ perceptions of patients’ prominent interpersonal needs, psychological needs, and expressions of “unfinished business” and their perspectives and experiences. There were three themes related to psychological needs and concerns: (i) experience and expression of negative emotions, (ii) mental health concerns, and (iii) confronting mortality. Three themes emerged in the domain of interpersonal connections: (i) support and closer connections with family, (ii) disconnection from family relationships, and (iii) building new connections at the hospice. Two themes were identified related to unfinished business: (i) types of unfinished business and (ii) addressing unfinished business. The findings also highlighted health-care providers’ perspectives and experiences: (i) need for expanded end-of-life care training and (ii) experiences of emotional labor. Conclusions: The findings have implications for comprehensive training of health-care providers and for assessment, support, and care services in palliative care settings in India.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a very common condition, occurring in women of reproductive age. This is an important source of stress for women, significantly affecting their regular functioning. Previous studies have shown that alternative forms of therapy like meditation have an effect on the symptoms associated with PMS. However, the direct link between the two has not been focused on by the larger group of researchers. In this study, the researcher intended to study the effects of classical music based chakra meditation on the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. The sample of the study comprised of 40 college students who were screened for premenstrual syndrome based on the Shortened Premenstrual Assessment Form (SPAF) and Calendar of Premenstrual Experiences(COPE) which they were expected to fill in for one menstrual cycle. The participants who qualified for the study were allotted to the intervention group and control group. The intervention group was expected to practice a 15 minute music based chakra meditation, everyday, for one menstrual cycle, during which they also filled in the COPE. The control group was expected to fill the COPE for one menstrual cycle. Both the groups filled in the SPAF after the completion of the menstrual cycle. The results on the SPAF and COPE showed that there was significant reduction in all the post-test symptom clusters of the experimental group, compared with the pre-test symptoms. Thus, this study demonstrates that music based chakra meditation can have significant healing effects on the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.