Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2018
Family Meetings in Inpatient Specialist Palliative Care: A Mechanism to Convey Empathy.
Family meetings are increasingly used in palliative care, yet have little empirical evidence of their impact in inpatient settings. ⋯ Family meetings improve reported empathy. It would be beneficial to have more specific preparation and planning by the clinical team for meetings with people who have a history of familial conflict, and those where the staff's agenda is around discharge planning. Published guidelines could be adapted to better support staff to run meetings where there are complex family dynamics. Adoption of family meetings in outpatient settings has the potential to improve perceptions of empathy with a larger patient group.
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The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is a widely used multisymptom assessment tool in cancer and palliative care settings, but its psychometric properties have not been widely tested using modern psychometric methods such as Rasch analysis. ⋯ The ESAS satisfied unidimensional Rasch model expectations in a 12-item format after minor modifications. This included uniform rescoring of the disordered response categories and creating superitems to improve model fit and clinical utility. The accuracy of the ESAS scores can be improved by using ordinal-to-interval conversion tables published in the article.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialCoping Skills Practice and Symptom Change: A Secondary Analysis of a Pilot Telephone Symptom Management Intervention for Lung Cancer Patients and Their Family Caregivers.
Little research has explored coping skills practice in relation to symptom outcomes in psychosocial interventions for cancer patients and their family caregivers. ⋯ Findings suggest that the effectiveness of TSM may have been reduced by competing effects of certain coping skills. Future interventions should consider focusing on assertive communication training for patients and guided imagery for caregivers.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialThe Long-Term Impact of Neurofeedback on Symptom Burden and Interference in Patients With Chronic Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy: Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common side effect of cancer treatment and may adversely affect quality of life (QOL) for years. ⋯ NFB appears to result in long-term reduction in multiple CIPN symptoms and improved postchemotherapy QOL and fatigue.