Psychological Distress in End-of-Life Care: A Review of Issues in Assessment and Treatment

Crunkilton, Dhira D.; Rubins, Vinode D.

doi:10.1080/15524250903173918

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…People coping with the existential challenges of approaching death can find interpersonal relationships to be a key component of experiencing meaning in life (Haug, Danbolt, Kvigne, & DeMartinis, ), and social comparisons with people in a similar situation may be helpful when trying to establish a new sense of normality in the presence of advanced illness (Lobb et al., ). Therefore, psychological stressors that accompany life‐limiting illness might be alleviated through social support (Crunkilton & Rubins, ). Patients and referring clinicians agree that additional social support is helpful (Bradley, Frizelle, & Johnson, , ); thus, informal relationships cultivated in palliative care are valuable to stakeholders, but appear underacknowledged by research (Wilson & Luker, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effectiveness of palliative care interventions offering social support to people with life-limiting illness-A systematic review

2018

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Individuals managing the challenges of life‐limiting illness require adequate social support to maintain quality of life. Qualitative research reports that patients value highly the social support obtained in palliative care interventions such as day care and group therapies. This systematic review aims to summarise existing quantitative evidence on palliative care interventions that facilitate social support. Research literature was systematically searched using electronic databases and key journals. Searches returned a total of 6,247 unique titles of which sixteen were eligible for inclusion. Interventions include group therapies, group practical interventions and palliative day care. Outcome measures and study designs were heterogeneous. Only one study used a validated outcome measure of social support. Benefits were influenced by participant characteristics such as baseline distress. Partial economic evaluation was attempted by two studies. Methodological challenges include attrition and use of outcome measures that were insensitive to change. Statistically significant results were reported in psychological and physical domains. Evidence is limited due to methodological issues and a scarcity of quantitative research, particularly regarding long‐term benefits and cost‐effectiveness. Interventions may be more beneficial to some groups than others.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of palliative care interventions offering social support to people with life-limiting illness-A systematic review

2018

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“…Ciarrochi et al, 2010;Yang et al, 2010), but this is the first study conducted that explored the use of ACT with clients experiencing death anxiety. The results of this study demonstrate that ACT and CBT were not perceived differently which is congruent with the view that effectively working with terminally ill persons is more about the general approach of the therapist rather than specific interventions and models (Crunkilton & Rubins, 2009).…”

Section: Contrast With Previous Researchsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…At the minimum, the current study alerts clinicians and researchers for the need to investigate and serve persons who are not physical healthy. Further, this study should challenge some healthcare professionals beliefs that dying persons are not as important as others, because dying clients do not have enough time to benefit from psychological treatment (Crunkilton & Rubins, 2009).…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 93%

An investigation of perceptions of two therapeutic responses for persons with a terminal illness experiencing death anxiety

Schoulte¹

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This paper reviews literature on the topic of death anxiety and therapy. The author conducted a study examining potential clients' perceptions of two different therapeutic approaches for working with terminally ill clients with death anxiety. A review of literature relevant to this topic indicates that death anxiety is correlated with many psychological problems; however, there are no clinical studies focused primarily on the treatment of death anxiety among clients with a terminal illness. In this study, potential clients were randomly assigned to watched either a short video of a cognitive behavioral therapy session or a short video of an acceptance and commitment therapy session focused on treating a terminal ill person's death anxiety. After watching the video, potential clients rated the session impact of the therapy approach using the Session Evaluation Questionnaire. In addition, participant's views of seeking psychotherapy were assessed with the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychology Help measure. No differences in ratings of session impact were found between participants who viewed the cognitive behavioral therapy session and the acceptance and commitment therapy session. However, participants' attitudes toward seeking therapy were positively associated with their views of the therapist and session depth. Consistent with past literature, women reported more death anxiety than men. In regards to potential clients' views of session impact variables, their view of postsession positivity was positively related to their view of session smoothness. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between potential clients' views of the therapist and session depth. Implications and conclusions are discussed.

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“…Spiritual well-being has been shown to be a significant and unique contributor to the quality of life beyond the core domains of physical, social/familial and emotional well-being (Whitford et al, 2008;Crunkilton and Rubins, 2009). The informants in this study knew how to participate in and how to support spiritual rituals.…”

Section: Spiritual Occupationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Occupation Roles of Hospice Family Caregivers from Māori, Chinese and Tongan Ethnic Backgrounds Living in New Zealand

Angelo¹,

Wilson

2014

Occup. Ther. Int.

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A major challenge to occupational therapists working in palliative care is determining the best ways to help family caregivers who are caring for family members. The purpose of this study was to explore palliative caregiver occupations among Māori, Chinese and Tongan ethnicities. Six informants participated, one woman and one man from each ethnic group. In each of their homes, informants were asked to discuss what it was like caring for their dying family member. The occupational themes resulting from these interviews were food preparation, spirituality and family gathering. Therapists need to be aware of the differences in how people care for family members within their ethnicity. Implications are that occupational therapists can help families identify activities important to them within the main occupational themes: different types of foods and their preparations, various ways to express spirituality and how families gather together members of their extended family. Further, clinicians need to take on the role of a "not-knowing" but curious health-care provider in order to meet the needs of caregivers. The limitation was the small number of participants who all lived in one geographic area. Future studies should include a wider group of ethnicities.

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Psychological Distress in End-of-Life Care: A Review of Issues in Assessment and Treatment

Cited by 17 publications

References 24 publications

Effectiveness of palliative care interventions offering social support to people with life-limiting illness-A systematic review

Effectiveness of palliative care interventions offering social support to people with life-limiting illness-A systematic review

An investigation of perceptions of two therapeutic responses for persons with a terminal illness experiencing death anxiety

Exploring Occupation Roles of Hospice Family Caregivers from Māori, Chinese and Tongan Ethnic Backgrounds Living in New Zealand

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