Families’ Sense of Abandonment When Patients Are Referred to Hospice

This study aimed to clarify the prevalence of families’ sense of abandonment, explore the association between the sense of abandonment and the oncologists’ behaviors, and investigate the association between the sense of abandonment and the families’ depression and complicated grief.Patients and Methods.This was part of a nationwide self‐reported questionnaire survey of bereaved families of patients with cancer who died in inpatient hospices. We sent questionnaires to 947 bereaved families of patients with cancer who died in 133 certified hospices between May 2012 and January 2014.Results.Among 707 responses obtained, a total of 189 (26.7%) families felt abandoned. The factors significantly associated with a greater sense of abandonment were that the oncologists said there was nothing more to do for the patient, the patient's age of less than 60 years, and being the patient's spouse. The factors significantly associated with a lower sense of abandonment were that the oncologists reassured the patients that they had received the best anticancer treatment, that the oncologists recommended hospices as one potential choice rather than mandatory, and that a palliative care team provided care. Families with a sense of abandonment had higher scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (p = .096) and Brief Grief Questionnaire (p 

Source: The Oncologist - September 11, 2018 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Takuya Odagiri, Tatsuya Morita, Maho Aoyama, Yoshiyuki Kizawa, Satoru Tsuneto, Yasuo Shima, Mitsunori Miyashita, J-HOPE Group Tags: Symptom Management and Supportive Care Source Type: research