Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) emerge as one of the areas where palliative care is most needed. This study was conducted to examine the attitudes and compassion fatigue levels of NICUs nurses working in Şanlıurfa, where the fertility rate and infant mortality are highest in Turkey, toward palliative care.

This study was conducted in descriptive type.

The research was carried out with 204 (85%) nurses who agreed to participate in the research between October 2022 and February 2023, out of 240 neonatal intensive care nurses working in the NICU of 2 training and research hospitals and a university hospital in Şanlıurfa. The data of the study were collected using an Introductory Information Form, the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale, and the Compassion Fatigue Short Scale.

Nurses; compassion fatigue scale mean score was 61.46 ± 26.64, palliative care scale mean score was 3.13 ± 0.74 for organization subdimension, 2.85 ± 0.73 for resources subdimension, and 3.08 ± 0.89 for clinician subdimension. In the results of the study, 8 barriers (parents do not participate in decisions, there is not enough staff, lack of time to spend with the family, lack of policies/rules in institutions for palliative care, lack of education and communication, society’s beliefs, nurses’ personal attitudes toward death, and lack of appreciation of past experiences with palliative care) and 6 facilitators (Nurses’ ability to express their perceptions, views and beliefs about palliative care, to participate and support palliative care, to inform parents, to provide counseling, adequate physical conditions) for palliative care were determined.

While it was determined that nurses had a slightly below moderate level of compassion fatigue and a close attitude toward organization and resources toward palliative care, it was determined that ethical conflict toward palliative care was high in clinical subdimension scores.

It is recommended that all nurses working in the NICU obtain certificates, improvements in resources such as personnel and equipment, improvements in the shift work system and development of policies/rules in institutions for palliative care.

Family caregivers often feel insufficiently prepared for a caregiving role, experiencing challenges and demands related to care at home that may negatively affect their own quality of life. Supportive interventions have been shown to influence negative effects, but more studies are needed. Therefore, this study aims to explore potential effects of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool Intervention on preparedness, caregiver burden, and quality of life among Swedish family caregivers in specialized home care.

The study had a pre–post intervention design and was conducted at 6 specialized home care services in Sweden. Family caregivers who received the intervention completed a questionnaire, including the Preparedness for caregiving scale, Caregiver Burden Scale, and Quality of Life in Life-Threatening Illness – Family carer version, at 2 time points, baseline and follow up, about 5 weeks later. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Altogether, 33 family caregivers completed the baseline and follow-up assessment. A majority were retired (n = 26, 81%) and women (n = 19, 58%) and two-fifths had a university degree (n = 13, 41%). The family caregivers had significantly increased their preparedness for caregiving between the baseline and follow-up assessment (Mdn = 18 vs. 20, p = 0.002). No significant changes were found on caregiver burden or quality of life.

The results add to knowledge regarding the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool Intervention’s potential to improve family caregiver outcomes. Findings suggest that the intervention may be used to improve the preparedness for caregiving and support among family caregivers in specialized home care.

Receiving bad news about one’s health can be devastating, yet little is known about how the therapeutic nature of the environment where bad news is delivered affects the experience. The current study aimed to explore how patients and their families were affected by the language and the built, natural, social, and symbolic environments when receiving bad news, through the Therapeutic Landscapes theoretical framework.

Patients diagnosed with a life-limiting illness living in regional Victoria who had a hospital admission within 24 months and a diagnostic/prognostic conversation were invited to participate, as well as a family member who witnessed the conversation. Participants were recruited through social media and snowballing, resulting in 14 online semi-structured interviews being conducted between November 2021 and March 2022, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop the themes.

Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with women aged between 30 and 77 years. Interviews lasted between 45 and 120 minutes, with an average of 69 minutes, and were conducted online or via mobile phone. Four central themes were developed: “Hearing bad news for the first time,” “Preferences for having hard conversations,” “Creating a sense of safety for ongoing care,” and “The therapeutic nature of the ward.”

This body of work will help inform practice and future policy regarding bad news delivery and the design and aesthetics of environments where bad news is delivered. It is essential that bad news is delivered within a quiet, calm, and emotionally safe environment within a supportive therapeutic relationship.

A resurgence of research investigating the administration of psychedelic compounds alongside psychotherapy suggests that this treatment is a promising intervention for anxiety, depression, and existential distress in people with cancer. However, psychedelic treatment that induces a mind-altering experience potentially poses barriers to vulnerable cancer patients, and health-care practitioners may have concerns about referring their patients to trials investigating this approach. The aim of the current study was to investigate the perceptions of cancer health-care practitioners based in New Zealand and the USA related to psychedelic-assisted therapy.

This study utilized a cross-sectional survey of cancer health-care practitioners in New Zealand and the USA via convenience sampling to identify their perceptions about the concept of conducting psychedelic-assisted therapy with cancer patients.

Participants perceived that (1) psychedelic-assisted therapy has the potential to provide benefit for cancer patients, (2) research in this area across a variety of domains is important, (3) work should consider spiritual and indigenous perspectives of health, and (4) there was willingness to refer patients to trials in this area, especially patients with advanced disease who were no longer going through curative treatment. Participants in the USA had greater awareness of psychedelics than the New Zealand sample; however, New Zealand participants more strongly believed that spiritual/indigenous factors should be considered in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Cancer health-care practitioners in our sample considered research investigating the potential for psychedelic-assisted therapies to be important and may be more open to studies that start in palliative and end-of-life contexts.

Disclosing the truth when breaking bad news continues to be difficult for health professionals, yet it is essential for patients when making informed decisions about their treatment and end-of-life care. This literature review aimed to explore and examine how health professionals, patients, and families experience truth disclosure during the delivery of bad news in the inpatient/outpatient palliative care setting.

A systemized search for peer-reviewed, published papers between 2013 and 2020 was undertaken in September 2020 using the CINAHL, Medline, and PsycInfo databases. The keywords and MeSH terms (“truth disclosure”) AND (“palliative care or end-of-life care or terminal care or dying”) were used. The search was repeated using (“bad news”) AND (“palliative care or end-of-life care or terminal care or dying”) terms. A meta-synthesis was undertaken to synthesize the findings from the eight papers.

Eight papers were included in the meta-synthesis and were represented by five Western countries. Following the synthesis process, two concepts were identified: “Enablers in breaking bad news” and “Truth avoidance/disclosure.” Several elements formed the concept of Enablers for breaking bad news, such as the therapeutic relationship, reading cues, acknowledgment, language/delivery, time/place, and qualities. A conceptual model was developed to illustrate the findings of the synthesis.

The conceptual model demonstrates a unique way to look at communication dynamics around truth disclosure and avoidance when breaking bad news. Informed decision-making requires an understanding of the whole truth, and therefore truth disclosure is an essential part of breaking bad news.

This study aimed to establish the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among family caregivers of palliative care patients at Hospice Africa Uganda.

We used a mixed method study to determine the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among family caregivers of palliative care patients at Hospice Africa Uganda. We assessed depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and collected socio-demographic data using a tailored questionnaire. We used binary logistic regression to assess for the association between depressive symptomatology and caregiver socio-demographic and clinical characteristics.

We recruited 161 family caregivers, 64% of whom were female. The study revealed a high prevalence of depressive symptoms (46%) (n = 74) among the family caregivers. Education status and religious affiliation were significantly associated with depressive symptomatology.

Family caregivers of palliative care patients face a high burden of depressive symptoms. Efforts to care for family caregivers within palliative care should include assessment and management of depressive symptoms in this population.

The aim of this methodological study was to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Family Inventory of Needs.

The universe of the study consisted of 300 family members of inpatients hospitalized in the palliative care units of four hospitals in northern Turkey between April 12, 2019 and December 30, 2019. The translation process was performed in multiple stages using the forward–backward translation model. The reliability of the Family Inventory of Needs was evaluated using the Cronbach α reliability coefficient and item-total score correlations. Exploratory factor analyses were applied to examine the factor structure of the scale and its construct validity. To test the time invariance of the scale, the relationships between the scores obtained from the first and second applications were examined using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin value of the Family Inventory of Needs was found to be 0.893. The items of the Family Inventory of Needs were found to explain 45.23% of the total variance in scores. The Turkish form of the scale consisted of the importance and fulfillment subdimensions, and had 19 items. The ICCs of the test–retest scores of the importance and fulfillment subdimensions of the Family Inventory of Needs were found to be, respectively, ICC = 1.000 and ICC = 0.730 with a positive, linear, and highly significant relationship between the scores. The item-total score correlation coefficients of the scale were found to vary between 0.920 and 0.908 in the importance subdimension, and between 0.930 and 0.922 in the fulfillment subdimension.

The Turkish version of the Family Inventory of Needs was found to be a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be safely used with the family members of Turkish inpatients.

Radiation-induced nausea and vomiting (RINV) is a common side effect of single fraction palliative radiotherapy. Patients experiencing RINV have significantly reduced quality of life and a prescription of prophylactic antiemetics, principally 5-HT3 antagonists, is recommended. There is a growing body of evidence relating to indications for this, but as yet there are no national guidelines.

A retrospective audit aimed to determine the extent to which patients at high and moderate emetogenic risk receiving single fraction radiotherapy were prescribed prophylactic emetic medication in line with the current evidence base.

A total of 60 patients were included in the audit; of these patients, 50 were consented for the risk of nausea and/or vomiting. Prophylactic antiemetics were only prescribed to 28 (46·7%) of all audited patients. Out of the 50 patients who provided informed consent, only 24 (48%) were prescribed an antiemetic prior to their treatment.

Antiemetic prescribing for single fraction patients at moderate to high emetogenic risk at a large regional centre is underutilised in relation to published evidence. Amended guidance and further audits are recommended to ensure that this patient group is best supported.

Schizophrenia is a severe and persistent mental illness with profound effects on patients, families, and communities. It causes immense suffering on personal, emotional, and socioeconomic levels. Individuals with schizophrenia have poorer health outcomes and die 10–20 years younger than the general population. Economic costs associated with schizophrenia are substantial and comprise 2.5% of healthcare expenditures worldwide. Despite psychosocioeconomic impacts, individuals with schizophrenia are subject to inequitable care, particularly at end of life. A systematic review was conducted to examine disparities in end-of-life care in schizophrenia and identify factors that can be targeted to enhance end-of-life care in this vulnerable population.

A comprehensive search was conducted using the databases Ovid MEDLINE(R), Ovid EMBASE, Ovid PsycINFO, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus from 2008–2018. Keywords included schizophrenia, palliative, end-of-life, and hospice. Two authors independently reviewed titles and abstracts; disagreements were resolved by consensus.

The search identified 123 articles; 33 met criteria: 13 case reports, 12 retrospective studies, 5 literature reviews, and 3 prospective studies. Articles were divided into major themes including healthcare disparities, ethics, and palliative care. Palliative care was the most frequent theme comprising >50% of the articles, and there was considerable thematic overlap with ethics and palliative care. Almost half the articles (45%) were related to schizophrenia and comorbid cancer.

Increased awareness of potential healthcare disparities in this population, creative approaches in multidisciplinary care, and provision of adequate palliative services and resources can enhance end-of-life care in schizophrenia.

Sleep disturbances are prevalent in cancer patients, especially those with advanced disease. There are few published intervention studies that address sleep issues in advanced cancer patients during the course of treatment. This study assesses the impact of a multidisciplinary quality of life (QOL) intervention on subjective sleep difficulties in patients with advanced cancer.

This randomized trial investigated the comparative effects of a multidisciplinary QOL intervention (n = 54) vs. standard care (n = 63) on sleep quality in patients with advanced cancer receiving radiation therapy as a secondary endpoint. The intervention group attended six intervention sessions, while the standard care group received informational material only. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), administered at baseline and weeks 4 (post-intervention), 27, and 52.

The intervention group had a statistically significant improvement in the PSQI total score and two components of sleep quality and daytime dysfunction than the control group at week 4. At week 27, although both groups showed improvements in sleep measures from baseline, there were no statistically significant differences between groups in any of the PSQI total and component scores, or ESS. At week 52, the intervention group used less sleep medication than control patients compared to baseline (p = 0.04) and had a lower ESS score (7.6 vs. 9.3, p = 0.03).

A multidisciplinary intervention to improve QOL can also improve sleep quality of advanced cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Those patients who completed the intervention also reported the use of less sleep medication.