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Aims and Objectives: To provide insight into the perceived need for information of patients with haematological malignancies., Background: Providing timely and accurate information to patients diagnosed with a haematological malignancy is a challenge in clinical practice; treatment often has to start promptly, with little time to inform patients., Design: Literature review., Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted from all available literature to May 2013 in the databases: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO and PubMed (Medline). Relevant studies were reviewed regarding the perceived need for information on various topics, sources of information and satisfaction with information provided., Results: The initial search revealed 215 articles, fourteen of which were relevant. Patients need basic information on the disease (diagnosis and diagnostics), treatment (various treatment options, side effects and duration), prognosis (curability and prolonging life) and all other topics (recovery, self-care and psychosocial functioning). Need for detailed information varied between studies. Patients expressed a higher need for medical than for psychosocial information. Patients preferred to receive information from their doctors the most, followed by nurses. Most studies described patients' satisfaction with the information provided., Conclusion: Based on the limited number of data available, medical information is for patients of higher priority compared to psychosocial information. Patients need basic information on diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and all other topics. Need for detailed information varied between studies. Patients were satisfied with the provided information, preferably offered by doctors and nurses., Relevance to Clinical Practice: The perceived need for information and satisfaction with the information provided differs strongly between patients. In clinical practice, more attention is needed for information tailored to the patient, taking into account important moderating factors such as age, type of cancer, time since diagnosis, treatment modality and coping style., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aims: The identification and description of the basic psychological process linked with the focus of family members' functioning during the acute phase of traumatic coma., Background: Earlier research learned that hope is a core category in coping with traumatic coma. Hope seems to be the drive to keep family members going and to enable them to fulfil their main task, namely protecting. In the two articles on the focus of family members functioning, this task is defined and the process linked with it is described., Design: A qualitative approach according to the 'grounded theory' method., Method: Twenty-four in-depth interviews with 22 family members of 16 patients with traumatic coma., Results: Family members describe the period after the confrontation with traumatic coma as a battle. During this battle, they feel the urge to protect their relative in coma, other family members and themselves. They go through three phases: protecting life, protecting from suffering, protecting what remains to rebuild life. In this article (Part Two) we describe the phase of protecting from suffering and protecting what remains to rebuild life., Conclusions: All relatives go through the three phases. Family members who have already overcome previous set-backs get through the process slightly more quickly and experience less extreme emotions., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Understanding the process of protecting in different phases may help health care professionals to do anything in their power to avoid unnecessary suffering, to ease the pain and to support family members in their task of protecting.

Aims: The identification and description of the basic psychological process linked with the focus of family members' functioning during the acute phase of traumatic coma., Background: Earlier research learned that hope is a core category in coping with traumatic coma. Hope seems to be the drive to keep family members going and to enable them to fulfil their main task namely protecting. In two articles on the focus of family members functioning, this task is defined and the process linked with it is described., Design: A qualitative approach according to the grounded theory method with constant comparison., Method: Twenty four in-depth interviews with 22 family members of 16 patients with traumatic coma., Results: Family members describe the period after the confrontation with traumatic coma as a battle. During this battle, they feel the urge to protect their relative in coma, other family members and themselves. They go through three phases: protecting life, protecting from suffering, protecting what remains to rebuild live. In this article (Part One) we describe the initial battle and the phase of protecting life., Conclusions: All relatives go through the three phases. Family members who have already overcome previous set-backs get through the process slightly more quickly and experience less extreme emotions., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Understanding the process of protecting in different phases may help health care professionals to do anything in their power to avoid unnecessary suffering, to ease the pain and to support family members in their task of protecting.

Aims: To assess the interplay between hope and the information provided by health care professionals., Background: Earlier research learned that hope is crucial for relatives of traumatic coma patients. Also it has been reported that the need for information is extremely important for relatives of critically ill patients., Design: A qualitative approach according to the 'grounded theory' method with constant comparison was used., Method: We held 24 in-depth interviews with 22 family members of 16 patients with traumatic coma. Data processing and data analysis took place in a cyclic process wherein the induction of themes was alternated by confrontation with new material., Results: Family members of traumatic coma patients want information that is as accurate as possible, provided by doctors and nurses in an understandable manner and leaving room for hope. At first, family members can do no more than passively absorb the information they receive. After some time, they actively start working with information and learn what to build their hope on. In this way, concrete hope evolves and seems to be strongly determined by information. Information that is more positive than warranted is not appreciated at all. It leads to false hope and once its real nature becomes apparent, to increased distress and loss of trust in the professionals., Conclusion: The process of hope is crucial in coping with traumatic coma and information can facilitate this process., Relevance to Clinical Practice: If professionals, especially nurses, keep the process in mind that family members go through in handling information, they can not only facilitate this process but also help them to establish realistic hope.