Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:10:46.920Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Behind the doors of home hospice patients: A secondary qualitative analysis of hospice nurse communication with patients and families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Debra Parker Oliver ,
Jessica Tappana ,
Karla T. Washington Open the ORCID record for Karla T. Washington [Opens in a new window] ,
Abigail Rolbiecki ,
Kevin Craig ,
George Demiris ,
Collyn Schafer ,
Mumeenat Winjobi ,
Margaret F. Clayton  and
Maija Reblin
...Show all authors
Debra Parker Oliver*
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri
Jessica Tappana
Affiliation:
Aspire Counseling, Columbia, MO
Karla T. Washington
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri
Abigail Rolbiecki
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri
Kevin Craig
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri
George Demiris
Affiliation:
Department of Biobehavioral and Health Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing
Collyn Schafer
Affiliation:
Medical student, University of Missouri
Mumeenat Winjobi
Affiliation:
Medical student, University of Missouri
Margaret F. Clayton
Affiliation:
College of Nursing
Maija Reblin
Affiliation:
Department of Health Outcomes & Behavior, Moffitt Cancer Center
Lee Ellington
Affiliation:
College of Nursing
*
Author for correspondence: Debra Parker Oliver, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri, One Hospital Drive Columbia, Missouri 65203. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

Hospice nurses frequently encounter patients and families under tremendous emotional distress, yet the communication techniques they use in emotionally charged situations have rarely been investigated. In this study, researchers sought to examine hospice nurses’ use of validation communication techniques, which have been shown in prior research to be effective in supporting individuals experiencing emotional distress.

Method

Researchers performed a directed content analysis of audiorecordings of 65 hospice nurses’ home visits by identifying instances when nurses used validation communication techniques and rating the level of complexity of those techniques.

Result

All nurses used validation communication techniques at least once during their home visits. Use of lower level (i.e., more basic) techniques was more common than use of higher level (i.e., more complex) techniques.

Significance of Results

Although hospice nurses appear to use basic validation techniques naturally, benefit may be found in the use of higher level techniques, which have been shown to result in improved clinical outcomes in other settings.

Keywords

HospiceNursesCommunicationFamily CaregiversValidation
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 17 , Issue 5 , October 2019 , pp. 579 - 583
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, I and Taylor, D (1973) Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: Holt.Google Scholar
Bernacki, R, Hutchings, M, Vick, J, et al. (2015) Development of the Serious Illness Care Program: A randomised controlled trial of a palliative care communication intervention. BMJ Open 5, e009032.Google Scholar
Carlander, I, Ternestedt, BM, Sahlberg-Blom, E et al. (2011) Being me and being us in a family living close to death at home. Qualitative Health Research 21, 683–95.Google Scholar
Ellington, L, Reblin, M, Clayton, MF, et al. (2012) Hospice nurse communication with patients with cancer and their family caregivers. Journal of Palliative Medicine 15, 262–68.Google Scholar
Feil, N (1993) The validation breakthrough. Baltimore, MD: Health Professionals Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Hsieh, HF and Shannon, SE (2005) Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research 15, 1277–88.Google Scholar
Linehan, MM (2015) Dialectical behavior therapy skills training manual. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Lombard, M, Snyder-Duch, J, and Bracket, CC (2002) Content analysis in mass communication: Assessment and reporting of intercoder reliability. Human Communication Research 28, 587–604.Google Scholar
Makoul, G and Clayman, ML (2006) An integrative model of shared decision making in medical encounters. Patient Education and Counseling 60, 301–12.Google Scholar
Milone-Nuzzo, P, Ercolano, E, and McCorkle, R (2015) Home care and hospice home care. In Oxford textbook of palliative nursing. Ferrell, BR, Coyle, N, and Paice, J (eds.), pp. 727–39. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Neuendorf, KA (2002) The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Parker Oliver, D, Washington, K, Demiris, G, et al. (2018) Shared decision making in home hospice nursing visits: A qualitative study. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management 55, 922–29.Google Scholar
Reblin, M, Clayton, MF, John, KK, et al. (2016) Addressing methodological challenges in large communication data sets: Collecting and coding longitudinal interactions in home hospice cancer care. Health Communication 31, 789–97.Google Scholar
Shenk, CE and Fruzzetti, AE (2011) The impact of validating and invalidating responses on emotional reactivity. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology 30, 163–83.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, LK, Aktas, A, Walsh, D, et al. (2012) A pilot study of palliative medicine fellows' hospice home visits. American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine 29, 591–98.Google Scholar
Tang, ST and McCorkle, R (2003) Determinants of congruence between the preferred and actual place of death for terminally ill cancer patients. Journal of Palliative Care 19, 230–37.Google Scholar
Washington, KT, Oliver, DP, Gage, LA, et al. (2016) A multimethod analysis of shared decision-making in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings including family caregivers. Palliative Medicine 30, 270–78.Google Scholar
Wilder, HM, Parker Oliver, D, Demiris, G, et al. (2008) Informal hospice caregiving: The toll on quality of life. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care 4, 312–32.Google Scholar
Wittenberg-Lyles, E, Demiris, G, Parker Oliver, D, et al. (2012) Stress variances among informal hospice caregivers. Qualitative Health Research 22, 1114–25.Google Scholar
Wittenberg-Lyles, E, Goldsmith, J, Richardson, B, et al. (2013) The practical nurse: A case for COMFORT communication training. American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine 30, 162–66.Google Scholar