Good death for children with cancer: a qualitative study

Palliative Sedation Therapy Practice Comparison - A Survey of Pediatric Palliative Care and Pain Management Specialists

Context: Palliative sedation therapy (PST) can relieve suffering at end-of-life (EOL) in children with intolerable and refractory symptoms. However, updated and consistent guidance on PST practices are imperative. Objectives: We investigate current variations in clinical practice and PST implementation among pediatric palliative care (PPC) and pain management (PM) specialists. Methods: We distributed an IRB-exempt electronic anonymous survey via email through the Society of Pediatric Pain Medicine, and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Survey responses were collated and descriptively reported. Results: Of 83 survey responses, the majority (75%) represented large academic children's hospitals. The distribution between PPC and pediatric pain management specialists' responses was 60% and 40%, respectively. Most respondents reported having designated pain management and/or palliative care teams (70% and 90%, respectively). Approximately half (48%) reported following an institutional PST protocol, most not requiring formal ethics consult (69%). Only 54% of respondents noted that the Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order was required prior to PST initiation. PST was primarily utilized for children with oncologic diagnoses (76%). The primary and secondary medications of choice for PST implementation were reported to be opioids (39%) and benzodiazepines (36%) by pain management specialists, and benzodiazepines (52%) and barbiturates (28%) by palliative care specialists. Conclusions: Our study highlights the variability in the practice and implementation of PST. Further educational efforts are key for establishing PST practices and efficient protocol development.

The Fraught Notion of a "Good Death" in Pediatrics

In this article, I sort through some of the confusion surrounding what constitutes the controversial notion of a "good death" for children. I distinguish, first, between metaphysical and practical disagreements about the notion of a good death, and, second, between accounts of a good death that minimally and maximally promote the dying child's interests. I propose a narrowed account of the dying child's interests, because they differ from the interests of non-dying children. Importantly, this account illustrates how disagreements at the end of a child's life are sometimes the result of a shift from a future to a present-oriented understanding of the child's interests on the part of some stakeholders but not others, and sometimes the result of a values-based disagreement about how different interests should be weighted. This brings into sharper focus the questions of for whom, and in what way, a child's death might be considered good.

Health professionals' view on the role of hope and communication challenges with patients in palliative care: A systematic narrative review

OBJECTIVE

To identify health professionals' (HPs) perspectives on the role of hope and the main challenges faced when communicating with patients in palliative care (PC).

METHODS

Search on PubMed, Scopus, SocIndex, Cochrane, and Web of Science using: palliat*, palliative care, palliative medicine, hospice care, terminal care, long term care, supportive care, end of life (EOL) care and hope*, followed by a thematic narrative analysis.

RESULTS

Thirty-five studies were included. HPs' views were grouped in: Bringing out hope and Taking down hope. HPs believe that hope is elicited through a personal patient-provider bond and exhibited through medical treatment delivery. HPs face difficulties when delivering prognosis, referring to hospice, and providing palliation.

CONCLUSION

Hope is conveyed through verbal and non-verbal communication. HPs struggle to account for hope's shifting character, challenging the engagement in EOL discussions.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Findings show a patient-provider clash of perspectives, suggesting a gap in acknowledging the shifting nature of hope. An important question emerges: Are the existing theories of hope that are solely explained from a patient experience relevant for HPs' own interpretation? Investigating the HPs' attitudes gathered in collective experiences in PC, might contribute to answering the question in the context of building more constructive communication approaches.

A "Good Death" for Children with Cardiac Disease

Children with heart disease often experience symptoms and medically intense end-of-life care. Our study explored bereaved parents' perceptions of a "good death" via a mail survey to 128 parents of children with heart disease who died in two centers. Parental perceptions of end-of-life circumstances were assessed by closed-ended questions including level of agreement with the question: "would you say your child experienced a good death?" and open-ended comments were contributed. Medical therapies at end-of-life and mode of death were retrieved through chart review. Of 50 responding parents, 44 (response rate: 34%) responded to the "good death" question; 16 (36%) agreed strongly, 15 (34%) agreed somewhat, and 30% disagreed (somewhat: 7, 16%; strongly: 6, 14%). Half the children were on mechanical support and 84% intubated at death. Of children with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at end-of-life, 71% of parents disagreed with the "good death" question compared with 22% of parents whose child died following discontinuation of life-sustaining therapy or comfort measures (OR 9.1, 95% CI 1.3, 48.9, p < 0.01). Parent-reported circumstances associated with disagreement with the "good death" question included cure-oriented goals-of-care (OR 16.6, 95% CI 3.0, 87.8, p < 0.001), lack of advance care planning (ACP) (OR 12.4 95% CI 2.1, 65.3 p < 0.002), surprise regarding timing of death (OR 11.7, 95% CI 2.6, 53.4 p < 0.002), and experience of pain (OR 42.1, 95% CI 2.3, 773.7 p < 0.02). Despite high medical intensity, many bereaved parents of children with cardiac disease agree a "good death" was experienced. A "good death" was associated with greater preparedness, ACP, non-cure-oriented goals-of-care, pain control, and CPR avoidance.

Identifying Core Domains to Assess the "Quality of Death": A Scoping Review

CONTEXT

There is growing recognition of the value to patients, families, society, and health systems in providing healthcare, including end-of-life care, that is consistent with both patient preferences and clinical guidelines.

OBJECTIVES

Identify the core domains and subdomains that can be used to evaluate the performance of end-of-life care within and across health systems.

METHODS

PubMed/MEDLINE (NCBI), PsycINFO (ProQuest), and CINAHL (EBSCO) databases were searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published prior to February 22, 2020. The SPIDER tool was used to determine search terms. A priori criteria were followed with independent review to identify relevant articles.

RESULTS

A total of 309 eligible articles were identified out of 2728 discrete results. The articles represent perspectives from the broader health system (11), patients (70), family and informal caregivers (65), healthcare professionals (43), multiple viewpoints (110), and others (10). The most common condition of focus was cancer (103) and the majority (245) of the studies concentrated on high-income country contexts. The review identified five domains and 11 subdomains focused on structural factors relevant to end-of-life care at the broader health system level, and two domains and 22 subdomains focused on experiential aspects of end-of-life care from the patient and family perspectives. The structural health system domains were: 1) stewardship and governance, 2) resource generation, 3) financing and financial protection, 4) service provision, and 5) access to care. The experiential domains were: 1) quality of care, and 2) quality of communication.

CONCLUSION

The review affirms the need for a people-centered approach to managing the delicate process and period of accepting and preparing for the end of life. The identified structural and experiential factors pertinent to the "quality of death" will prove invaluable for future efforts aimed to quantify health system performance in the end-of-life period.

A good death in the child with life shortening illness: A qualitative multiple-case study

BACKGROUND

Understanding what makes a 'good death' in the child with life shortening illness is important, as it informs appropriate and effective end-of-life care. Above play, peer contact and opportunities for assent, prior literature review found meeting needs and managing control were critical. The influence of disease types, location of death and palliative care support remains unclear.

AIM

Explore how a good death for children can occur in the real-world context and identify factors influencing it.

DESIGN

A qualitative multiple-case study. The case was defined as family and professional caregivers of children who died, stratified across disease categories (cancer or non-cancer) and palliative care contact. Data collection included (1) interviews, (2) artefacts, (3) clinical notes. Framework Analysis facilitated in-depth within and cross-case analysis.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

Singapore health-care context. Respondents included bereaved parents, health and social care providers from hospital, and a community palliative care service.

RESULTS

Five cases were constituted, with eight parents and 14 professionals as respondents. Eight common themes were identified, sub-categorised under three domains and interpreted theoretically: (1) Antecedents: Letting go, Acknowledging the child, Closure (2) Determinants: Suffering, Control, Systems and processes (3) Attributes: Comfort, Dying not prolonged. These factors were consistent across all cases, regardless of individual diagnoses, place of care and palliative care access.

CONCLUSIONS

Elements that universally influence a good death are revealed within an ecologically sound and holistic conceptual framework. The impact of attitudes among healthcare professionals, and service delivery at systems level highlighted in this study have immediate applications in practice and policy.

Identification of Evidence for Key Positive Psychological Constructs in Pediatric and Adolescent/Young Adult Patients with Cancer: A Scoping Review

Introduction: Children and adolescents/young adults (AYAs) with cancer are a vulnerable population susceptible to numerous late effects, such as fatigue and depression, which may diminish their long-term psychological, physical, spiritual, and emotional health. A well-rounded understanding of how positive psychological constructs affect the quality of care and treatment outcomes is therefore warranted.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of 15 positive psychological constructs in children and AYAs with cancer. The primary research questions were (1) what is known about positive psychological constructs in children and AYAs with cancer; (2) what value is ascribed to these constructs by patients?

Results: Two hundred seventy-six articles were included after database search and screening. These studies were mostly observational or qualitative and conducted in North America. Constructs were often poorly defined, and measurement tools used to gather data were wide ranging. Numerous factors were correlated with increased or decreased expression of certain constructs, but overall themes were difficult to identify. Similarly, patients often spoke of what increased or decreased expression of a construct, with less emphasis on what they implicitly value.

Discussion: This scoping review found ample evidence for what increases or decreases expression of positive psychological constructs, but this evidence was observational and often conflicting. In the future, we recommend the development of a core set of psychological outcomes, with definitions and corresponding measurement tools. We further recommend an emphasis on randomized trials to more rigorously study how expression of constructs can be improved and what effect this has on the quality of life.

End-of-Life Care Provided for Cancer Patients: A Metasynthesis Study

In the health care setting, and especially in cancer patients nearing the end of life, administrators, medical staff, patients, and families face challenges of a social, legal, religious, and cultural nature in the process of care. The present study aimed to perform a metasynthesis of qualitative studies conducted on providing end-of-life care for cancer patients. The present metasynthesis was conducted using Sandelowski and Barroso's method. A literature search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases, from the inception to date, and a total of 21 articles were identified as eligible for inclusion in the study. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) criteria were used for assessing the articles, and data were analyzed by the subject review. Six themes were extracted for end-of-life care including psychological support, palliative support, educational-counseling support, spiritual support, preferential support, and supportive interactions, each comprising a number of categories. The most frequently mentioned categories were high-value care (67%) and adaptive acceptance (57%). The findings of this metasynthesis support the view that nurses are moral agents who are deeply invested in the moral integrity of end-of-life care involving assisted death. The present study showed that providing high-value care and facilitating adaptive acceptance are important constituents of a holistic strategy for providing end-of-life care to cancer patients.

Caring for Children With Life-Limiting Illness in Bloemfontein, South Africa: Challenging the Assumptions of the 'Good Death'

Theories of good death focused on acceptance, control, and meaning-making inform adult palliative care in high-resource settings. As children's palliative and hospice care (CPHC) develops in resource-limited settings, critical conceptualisations of a good death for children across these diverse settings are unknown. Assessed against high-resource setting tenets of good death from carer perspectives, results suggest: carer agency is limited; advanced discussion of death does not occur; distress results from multiple burdens; basic survival is prioritised; physical pain is not an emphasised experience; and carers publicly accept death quickly while private grief continues. Hegemonic conceptions of 'good death' for children do not occur in contexts where agency is constrained and discussing death is taboo, limiting open discussion, acceptance, and control of dying experiences. Alternate forms of discourse and good death could still occur. Critical, grounded conceptualisations of good death in individual resource-limited settings should occur in advance of CPHC development to effectively relieve expansive suffering in these contexts.

Play in Children With Life-Threatening and Life-Limiting Conditions: A Scoping Review

IMPORTANCE

Play is essential to children and provides opportunities to promote their health and well-being. Children living with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions experience deprivation in play.

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a scoping review of studies that examined play of children with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition to explore their play characteristics and possible factors influencing their participation in play.

DATA SOURCES

A search of literature published between 1990 and 2017 was conducted in the health, social care, and built-environment fields. The scoping review included multiple searches in electronic databases, a gray literature search, and manual searches of relevant journals and reference lists of included articles.

STUDY SELECTION AND DATA COLLECTION

Defined criteria were used to select articles describing studies that examined the daily play of children ages 5-11 yr with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions; articles that focused on play as therapy or that used parents' accounts of a service were excluded. The identified articles were critically appraised with the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme and the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools.

FINDINGS

Thirteen articles were reviewed. The findings indicate that children's play is influenced by their health conditions and play opportunities and by the limited availability of appropriate play equipment and spaces allowing play and social interaction.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Available appropriate play opportunities need to be maximized for children living with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. This goal can be achieved by understanding and considering the needs of these children and by facilitating environmental enablers and limiting barriers.

WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS

Promoting the participation in play of children who live with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions is important to their health and well-being and can be achieved by targeting the cultural, social, and physical environmental factors that shape the children's play.

Thematic Analysis of Interprofessional Provider Perceptions of Pediatric Death

PURPOSE

Though provider and patient perceptions of death are characterized in the adult population literature, there is limited information related to providers' perceptions in pediatric and neonatal patients. The purpose of this study was to better understand how interprofessional care team members perceive and experience neonatal and pediatric end-of-life situations.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This survey questionnaire was administered to interprofessional providers following their participation in an institutional workshop, as part of an ongoing institutional effort to improve end-of-life experiences for patients/family and providers. Interprofessional care providers completed an electronic survey consisting of closed-ended and one open-ended question to elicit their perceptions of their participation in end of life care for a recent neonatal/pediatric patient in the period before the child's death.

RESULTS

The qualitative analysis of 306 free-text responses commenting on the deaths of 138 patients, contained within 880 completed mixed-method surveys, is described. Thematic analysis of the free text discovered three primary themes from the data: favorable aspects of the death experience, unfavorable aspects of the experience, and combined favorable and unfavorable aspects. Four subthemes contributed to the themes; namely, language, parental presence, trust/rapport in provider relationships and inclusion in decision-making, communication, and culture.

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple factors contribute to how interprofessional care providers perceive end-of-life care experiences for neonatal/pediatric patients. The same death may be perceived differently by different providers.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Understanding favorable and unfavorable aspects of providing end-of-life care will support strategies to provide resources, education and support to facilitate coping and resiliency in care providers.

Specialized pediatric palliative care services for children dying from cancer: A repeated cohort study on the developments of symptom management and quality of care over a 10-year period

Background:

About one quarter of children affected with cancer die. For children and their families, the end-of-life period is highly distressing.

Aim:

This study focused on how end-of-life care in pediatric cancer patients changed over a period of 10 years and if changes in pediatric palliative care structures were associated with quality of care.

Design:

Over a 10-year period, all pediatric oncology departments in one German federal state were invited to participate in a repeated cross-sectional cohort study at three time-points (2005, 2010, 2015). Departments invited parents whose children died due to cancer 5 years earlier to participate. Identical semi-structured interviews were conducted with each cohort by the Survey of Caring for Children with Cancer. In addition, departments provided information on their pediatric palliative care infrastructure.

Participants:

In total, 124 families participated; 73% of interviews were conducted with mothers, 18% with fathers, and 9% with both parents.

Results:

Parents’ perception of symptom occurrence, symptom burden, and effectiveness of symptom-related treatment remained stable over the 10-year period. Over time, the availability of pediatric palliative care ( p < 0.001) as well as quality and satisfaction ratings of care ( p < 0.001) increased significantly. A growing number of children received specialized pediatric palliative care at home during the end-of-life period ( p = 0.009). Along with this development, more families had the chance to plan the location of death ( p = 0.003), and more children died at the preferred location ( p = 0.001).

Conclusion:

Advances in the availability of pediatric palliative care were associated with improvement in some aspects of quality of care (e.g. location of death) while other aspects, such as effectiveness of symptom management, remained unchanged. Further research is required to determine whether additional improvement in structural quality may increase the effectiveness of symptom management.

Predictors of Location of Death for Children with Cancer Enrolled on a Palliative Care Service

BACKGROUND

In the U.S., more children die from cancer than from any other disease, and more than one third die in the hospital setting. These data have been replicated even in subpopulations of children with cancer enrolled on a palliative care service. Children with cancer who die in high-acuity inpatient settings often experience suffering at the end of life, with increased psychosocial morbidities seen in their bereaved parents. Strategies to preemptively identify children with cancer who are more likely to die in high-acuity inpatient settings have not been explored.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A standardized tool was used to gather demographic, disease, treatment, and end-of-life variables for 321 pediatric palliative oncology (PPO) patients treated at an academic pediatric cancer center who died between 2011 and 2015. Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict patient subgroups at increased risk for pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) death.

RESULTS

Higher odds of dying in the PICU were found in patients with Hispanic ethnicity (odds ratio [OR], 4.02; p = .002), hematologic malignancy (OR, 7.42; p < .0001), history of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (OR, 4.52; p < .0001), total number of PICU hospitalizations (OR, 1.98; p < .0001), receipt of cancer-directed therapy during the last month of life (OR, 2.96; p = .002), and palliative care involvement occurring less than 30 days before death (OR, 4.7; p < .0001). Conversely, lower odds of dying in the PICU were found in patients with hospice involvement (OR, 0.02; p < .0001) and documentation of advance directives at the time of death (OR, 0.37; p = .033).

CONCLUSION

Certain variables may predict PICU death for PPO patients, including delayed palliative care involvement. Preemptive identification of patients at risk for PICU death affords opportunities to study the effects of earlier palliative care integration and increased discussions around preferred location of death on end-of-life outcomes for children with cancer and their families.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Children with cancer who die in high-acuity inpatient settings often experience a high burden of intensive therapy at the end of life. Strategies to identify patients at higher risk of dying in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) have not been explored previously. This study finds that certain variables may predict PICU death for pediatric palliative oncology patients, including delayed palliative care involvement. Preemptive identification of patients at risk for PICU death affords opportunities to study the effects of earlier palliative care integration and increased discussions around preferred location of death on end-of-life outcomes for children with cancer and their families.

Decision-making on therapeutic futility in Mexican adolescents with cancer: a qualitative study

Background

The world literature shows that empirical research regarding the process of decision-making when cancer in adolescents is no longer curable has been conducted in High-income, English speaking countries. The objective of the current study was to explore in-depth and to explain the decision-making process from the perspective of Mexican oncologists, parents, and affected adolescents and to identify the ethical principles that guide such decision-making.

Methods

Purposive, qualitative design based on individual, fact-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The participants were thirteen paediatric oncologists, 13 parents or primary carers, and six adolescents with incurable cancer. The participants were recruited from the paediatric oncology services of three national tertiary-care medical centres in Mexico City.

Results

The oncologists stated that they broach the subject of palliative management when they have determined that curative treatment has failed. Respect for autonomy was understood as the assent of the parent/adolescent to what the oncologist determined to be in the best interest of the adolescent. The oncologists thought that the adolescent should be involved in the decision-making. They also identified the ability to count on a palliative care clinic or service as an urgent need. For the parents, it was essential that the oncologist be truly interested in their adolescent child. The parents did not consider it necessary to inform the child about impending death. The adolescents stated that the honesty of their oncologists was important; however, several of them opted for a passive role in the decision-making process.

Conclusion

The findings of this study evidence that to achieve good medical practice in low-middle income countries, like Mexico, it is urgent to begin effective implementation of palliative care, together with appropriate training and continuing education in the ethics of clinical practice.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12910-017-0231-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Place of death in children and young people with cancer and implications for end of life care: a population-based study in England, 1993-2014

BACKGROUND

Efforts to improve end of life care (EoLC) have made tangible impacts on care in adults, including enabling more people to die at their preferred place of death (PoD), usually home or hospices. Little is known how the PoD in children and young people (CYP, ≤24 years) has changed over time, especially in the context of a series of national initiatives for EoLC improvement since the late 1990s. To inform evidence-based policy-making and service development, we evaluated the national trends of PoD and the associated factors in CYP who died with cancer.

METHODS

Population-based observational study in the National Health Service (NHS) England, 1993-2014. All non-accidental CYP deaths with cancer (N = 12,774) were extracted from the death registration database of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

RESULTS

Hospital deaths reduced from >50 to 45 %, hospice deaths were rare but more than doubled from 6 % in 1993-2000 to 13 % in 2005-2014, and home deaths fluctuated at around 40 %. Those aged 0-19 years were more likely to die at home than young adults (adjusted proportion ratio (PRs): 1.23-1.62); haematological cancer patients or those with 2+ comorbid conditions had higher chances of hospital death (PRs for home: 0.18-0.75, hospice: 0.04-0.37); deprivation was associated with a reduced chance of home death (PRs: 0.76-0.84). The residential region affected hospice but not home deaths. The variations of PoD by cause of death, comorbid conditions and deprivation slightly decreased with time.

CONCLUSIONS

Hospitals and home were the main EoLC settings for CYP with cancer. Home death rates barely changed in the past two decades; deaths in hospitals remained the most common but slightly shifted towards hospices. CYP with haematological malignancy or with comorbid conditions had persistently high hospital deaths; these cases had an even lower chance of deaths in hospices (50 %) than at home. There were deprivation- and area-related inequalities in PoD which may need service- and/or policy-level intervention. The findings highlight a need for CYP specific initiatives to enhance EoLC support and capacities both at home and in hospices.