Search

This study aimed to examine the quality of life (QOL) of patients with advanced cancer in Hong Kong. Ninety participants were recruited from the oncology ward of the study hospital. They responded to a 28-item, 8-subscale multidimensional questionnaire and a single-item scale that measured QOL in a face-to-face interview. Participation in health care decisions, food-related concerns, and existential distress were some QOL concerns that require health care professionals' attention. Walking ability predicted the level of QOL in certain QOL domains that surfaces patients' need for rehabilitation. That the QOL domain value of life was the most important domain that predicted overall QOL calls for meaning-of-life interventions for palliative care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. The aim of this study was to elicit patients' perceptions of their participation in a life review programme for Chinese patients with advanced cancer. Background. Empirical data have supported the suggestion that a life review is an effective psycho-spiritual intervention, particularly with older people. However, no life review programmes have been specifically designed for Chinese patients with advanced cancer, and their views on the life review therefore remain unknown. Design. This study was a descriptive qualitative design. Method. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with a sample of 26 patients with advanced cancer receiving home-based palliative care from a hospice after the completion of the programme. Results. The six categories identified in the analysis were as follows: (1) accepting one's unique life; (2) feelings of emotional relief; (3) bolstering a sense of meaning in life; (4) leaving a personal legacy; (5) making future orientations; and (6) barriers to a life review. Conclusion. Our life review programme is non-invasive care intervention for improving the psycho-spiritual well-being of Chinese patients with advanced cancer and helping them to prepare for death. This programme not only provides Chinese nurses with a new approach to meeting the unique needs of patients approaching death but also poses a challenge to customary beliefs about death, which is considered a social taboo in China. Relevance to clinical practice. The life review programme can be integrated into the usual care arrangements to enhance the psycho-spiritual well-being of Chinese patients with advanced cancer. Nurses should be aware of the challenges involved in the process of conducting a life review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hope is considered a coping strategy as well as a factor that enhances quality of life for patients with advanced cancer. Most studies on the meaning of hope are from the patients' perspective. However, the health-care professionals' view is also important since it may affect their practice. This study explored the meaning of hope to patients with advanced cancer from health-care professionals' perspective. This was a qualitative study that used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Five focus group interviews were conducted with 23 participants including physicians, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, chaplains, and a physiotherapist working in the palliative care unit of a hospital in Hong Kong. Data analysis revealed four themes: expected hopelessness, a dynamic process of hope, hope-fostering strategies, and peace as the ultimate hope. It appears that health-care professionals' hopefulness contributes to the hopefulness of patients. Opportunities to reflect on their values, beliefs, and experience may help health-care professionals enhance their ability to foster hope in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This article reports a study to examine the meaning of hope from the perspective of Chinese advanced cancer patients in Hong Kong. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of advanced cancer patients recruited from the palliative care unit of a local hospital. Data were saturated after 17 participants were interviewed. Qualitative content analysis was adopted to analyse the data. Findings: Hope as experienced by the participants was found to consist of five components: living a normal life, social support, actively letting go of control, reconciliation between life and death, and wellbeing of significant others. Conclusions: While hope is related to the wellbeing of patients with advanced cancer, successful palliative care partly depends on an awareness of the importance of hope in the end-of-life context and cultural sensitivity to the meanings behind it from the patients' own perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies individual empowerment among Chinese cancer patients in Hong Kong, China. Process on how to overcome powerlessness; Giving patients control, choice and resources.

Details the nurse-facilitated empowering experiences of family caregivers in Hong Kong, China. Conduction of in-depth interviews among caregivers of patients with terminal cancer; Basis for collection and analysis of data; Consequences of empowerment.