Families' Sense of Abandonment When Patients Are Referred to Hospice.

CONCLUSION: Approximately a quarter of bereaved families had a sense of abandonment, which was associated with a higher rate of complicated grief. Oncologists may reduce the sense of abandonment by reassuring that the patients received the best anticancer treatment, recommending hospices as a potential choice rather than as mandatory, and by not saying there is nothing that can be done for the patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This self-reported questionnaire study investigated the prevalence of families' feelings of abandonment when they were referred to hospice care, focusing on the association of sense of abandonment and the behavior of their physicians. Nearly a quarter of families felt abandoned by the referral to hospice, and the behavior of some oncologists was associated with the sense of abandonment. PMID: 29567822 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29567822?dopt=Abstract

Source: The Oncologist - March 22, 2018 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Odagiri T, Morita T, Aoyama M, Kizawa Y, Tsuneto S, Shima Y, Miyashita M, J‐HOPE Group Tags: Oncologist Source Type: research