Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2024
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyEMPOWER: A Multi-Site Pilot Trial to Reduce Distress in Surrogate Decision-Makers in the ICU.
Efforts to reduce the psychological distress of surrogate decision-makers of critically ill patients have had limited success, and some have even exacerbated distress. ⋯ EMPOWER appeared feasible and acceptable, increased surrogates' satisfaction with critical care, and prevented escalation of posttraumatic stress, grief, and depression 3 months later.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialDyadic Yoga for Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemoradiation and their Family Caregivers.
Concurrent chemoradiation to treat head and neck cancer (HNC) may result in debilitating toxicities. Targeted exercise such as yoga therapy may buffer against treatment-related sequelae; thus, this pilot RCT examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a yoga intervention. Because family caregivers report low caregiving efficacy and elevated levels of distress, we included them in this trial as active study participants. ⋯ Yoga therapy appears to be a feasible, acceptable, and possibly efficacious behavioral supportive care strategy for HNC patients undergoing chemoradiation. A larger efficacy trial is warranted.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialMusic listening in stem cell transplantation and acute myeloid leukemia: A randomized clinical trial.
Music listening (ML) has been shown to have a beneficial effect on patients with cancer. However, novel intervention approaches are needed. ⋯ ML based on our innovative iso-principle strategy, conducted using GloMus, reduced the symptom burden in patients undergoing allogeneic- and inpatient autologous-SCT (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT05696457).
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialA randomized controlled trial of betamethasone on fatigue in patients with advanced cancer.
Fatigue is one of the most uncomfortable physical symptoms seen in patients with advanced cancer. Previous studies have reported on the efficacy of corticosteroids from Western countries. ⋯ The impact of betamethasone 4 mg/d on alleviating fatigue in patients with advanced cancer in the last weeks of life did not reach statistical significance in the EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL as the primary endpoint, however, it was significant in the NRS, the secondary endpoint.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialPatient-Caregiver Dyads & End-of-Life Care: Caregiver Personality Disrupts Gender-based Norms.
Gender and personality may individually impact end-of-life care. Men often receive more aggressive treatments than women near death, and personality - particularly openness - may be associated with increased care utilization when it diverges from traditional treatment norms. However, research has not examined the interaction of these variables in a dyadic context. ⋯ Results suggest caregiver personality characteristics, particularly openness, might disrupt gender-based treatment norms at end-of-life. Findings demonstrate that patient and caregiver factors can interact to explain patient healthcare utilization.