Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialEMPOWER: an intervention to address barriers to pain management in hospice.
Concerns about pain medications are major barriers to pain management in hospice, but few studies have focused on systematic methods to address these concerns. ⋯ EMPOWER is a promising model to reduce barriers to pain management in hospice.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Psychometric properties of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue) in Chinese patients receiving maintenance dialysis.
Fatigue is a common symptom reported by patients with end-stage renal disease, and it can significantly decrease patients' quality of life. A brief and convenient fatigue assessment tool is needed for Chinese patients on maintenance dialysis. ⋯ The FACIT-Fatigue had acceptable validity and reliability for maintenance dialysis patients and can be used as a valid tool for the measurement of fatigue among these Chinese patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Comparative StudyMeaning in life experience at the end of life: validation of the Hindi version of the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation and a cross-cultural comparison between Indian and German palliative care patients.
The experience of Meaning in Life (MiL) is a major protective factor against feelings of hopelessness and wishes for hastened death in palliative care (PC) patients. However, most instruments for MiL assessment have been developed only in Western countries so far. Little is known about MiL experience in Asian PC patients. ⋯ Preliminary results indicate good feasibility and validity of the Hindi version of the SMiLE. MiL experience also seems to be a coping resource for Indian PC patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Observational StudySymptom clusters predict mortality among dialysis patients in Norway: a prospective observational cohort study.
Patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis have reduced survival rates compared with the general population. Symptoms are frequent in dialysis patients, and a symptom cluster is defined as two or more related co-occurring symptoms. ⋯ Clustering of uremic symptoms predicted mortality. Assessing co-occurring symptoms rather than single symptoms may help to identify dialysis patients at high risk for mortality.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jan 2015
Multicenter StudyPretreatment information on dysphagia: exploring the views of head and neck cancer patients.
Swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) are a common acute and chronic side effect of head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment. Dysphagia is associated with medical concerns such as malnutrition and pulmonary health as well as quality of life outcomes. Providing information on the likely changes to swallowing is an important component of pretreatment preparation. There is little research providing the patients' perspective in this area. ⋯ Patients require information on the impact and prognosis for their swallowing ability. There was a general preference for verbal information, from someone knowledgeable about dysphagia. However, there are also individual preferences for the manner and pace at which this information is delivered. Further research is indicated to explore ways of providing information that is individually tailored to patients' needs and preferences.