Assessment of palliative care needs of patients/families living with cancer in a developing country

Pattern of admissions and needs assessment for palliative care services among in-patients in a tertiary health facility in South-Western Nigeria

BACKGROUND

Palliative care evolution focuses on education and medication accessibility. As little as 12% of palliative care needs are met. Assessment of the domains of Palliative care and patients' and families' experience are essential in life-limiting conditions. The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), have the National Cancer Centre without offering palliative care services.

AIM

The aim was to examine pattern of admissions and needs assessment for palliative services among patients admitted into LUTH wards.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

Responses were entered into a data sheet inputted into Epi info version 7.2. Descriptive characteristics of the participants were presented as frequencies and percentages for age, sex, pattern of disease, domains of Palliative care, Advance care Plan, Preparation for home care, death and Education about the illness and category of medical conditions (palliative and non-palliative conditions). Together for Short Lives (TfSL) tool was used to categorize respondents' conditions into Palliative and Non-palliative conditions. Chi-square test was used to determine association between independent variables (pattern of diagnoses, stage of disease, advanced care plan, preparation for home care/ death and education on illness) and dependent variables (category of medical condition). Chi-square test was also used to explore the association between specialty of the managing doctor (independent variable) and Advance care plan (dependent variable). The level of statistical significance was P-value < 0.05.

RESULTS

80.6% of the respondents had palliative care conditions, 83.7% had family members as their caregiver while 13.2% of the participants had no caregiver and 65.9% had no advance care plan. There was no preparation for home care or death in 72.1%, 70.5% had education about their illness, and 68.2% were in the advanced stage of their disease. Participants attending the surgery non-trauma unit (51.6%) were more likely to have advance care plans. Adults were more likely to have palliative care conditions (79.8%) compared to children (20.2%), and was statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Majority of the participants need palliative care services but are unavailable and unmet and the most predominant condition was cancer. Majority had no advance care plan or preparation for home care or death despite having advanced stage of the disease. This survey emphasized the need for symptom management, communication and provision of support.

Expectations and barriers to the utilization of specialist palliative care services among persons living with cancer in Ghana: an exploratory qualitative study

Background

The need for palliative care among patients living with cancer is increasing globally. This need is far greater in resource-constrained settings like Ghana where there is a high unmet need for palliative care services. Consequently, there are lapses in the current palliative care regime, thus, resulting in suboptimal utilization.

Objective

The study aims to explore patients living with cancer's expectations of palliative care services and examine the barriers that impede palliative care utilization.

Design

Descriptive exploratory qualitative design.

Methods

A total of 15 patients living with cancer and receiving treatment in a tertiary health facility were purposively sampled to participate in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data were transcribed and inductively analysed following Collaizi's qualitative analysis framework.

Results

From the analysis, the findings were grouped under two main categories: perceived expectations and barriers to utilizing palliative care. The participants expected to receive meaningful communication about their condition and prognosis; they also expected to be actively involved in palliative care decision-making. Regarding the barriers, the following themes emerged: financial constraints, unfavourable health appointment schedules, problems with the distance to the health facility, poor referral and follow-up from oncology specialists and being unaware of the availability of palliative care services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a need to actively involve patients and their families in all decision-making along the continuum of palliative care service delivery. The study underscores the need for Ghana to implement an integration of palliative care services in primary healthcare facilities to avert the challenges that distance to tertiary healthcare facilities poses to palliative care utilization. Service providers must implement awareness programmes to enable patients to better comprehend palliative care services.

The need of patients living with cancer for palliative care

BACKGROUND

A comprehensive assessment of patients' problems and needs is essential for all patients with chronic diseases, including cancer.

AIM

This study assesses the problems, unmet needs and requirement for palliative care (PC) among patients with cancer.

METHOD

A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed using a valid self-reported questionnaire.

RESULTS

On average, 62% of patients had problems that were unresolved. The need for patients to have more information about their health was identified (75.1%), followed by financial problems because of the illness and ability to afford healthcare (72.9%), and psychological issues, such as depression, anxiety and stress (67.1%). Patients stated that their spiritual needs were not being met (78.8%), and that they were experiencing psychological distress and problems with daily living that needed to be addressed through PC (78%, 75.1%, respectively). A chi-square test revealed that all problems are significantly associated with the need for PC (P<.001).

CONCLUSION

Patients needed more assistance in psychological, spiritual, financial and physical domains, and this can be provided by palliative care. Palliative care in low-income countries is a human right for patients with cancer.

Incidence and risk factors of prolonged grief in relatives of patients with terminal cancer in French palliative care units: The Fami-Life multicenter cohort study

OBJECTIVES

Psychological consequences of grief among relatives are insufficiently known. We reported incidence of prolonged grief among relatives of deceased patients with cancer.

METHODS

Prospective cohort study of 611 relatives of 531 patients with cancer hospitalized for more than 72 hours and who died in 26 palliative care units was conducted. The primary outcome was prolonged grief in relatives 6 months after patient death, measured with the Inventory Complicated Grief (ICG > 25, range 0-76, a higher score indicates more severe symptoms) score. Secondary outcomes in relatives 6 months after patient death were anxiety and depression symptoms based on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score (range 0 [best]-42 [worst]), higher scores indicate more severe symptoms, minimally important difference 2.5. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were defined by an Impact Event Scale-Revised score >22 (range 0-88, a higher score indicates more severe symptoms).

RESULTS

Among 611 included relatives, 608 (99.5%) completed the trial. At 6 months, significant ICG scores were reported by 32.7% relatives (199/608, 95% CI, 29.0-36.4). The median (interquartile range ICG score) was 20.0 (11.5-29.0). The incidence of HADS symptoms was 87.5% (95% CI, 84.8-90.2%) at Days 3-5 and 68.7% (95% CI, 65.0-72.4) 6 months after patient's death, with a median (interquartile range) difference of -4 (-10 to 0) between these 2 time points. Improvement in HADS anxiety and depression scores were reported by 62.5% (362/579) relatives.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

These findings support the importance of screening relatives having risk factors of developing prolonged grief in the palliative unit and 6 months after patient's death.

Systematic review of psychosocial interventions for adult cancer patients and their family caregivers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cancer is becoming a public health issue in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This systematic review aims to synthesise psychosocial interventions and their effects on the health outcomes of adult cancer patients and their family caregivers in SSA. We identified eligible publications in English language from PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus with Full Text, Embase, APA PsycInfo, Scopus, and African Index Medicus databases. We included psychosocial interventions targeted adult cancer patients/survivors or their family caregivers in SSA. This review identified five psychosocial interventions from six studies that support adult cancer patients and their family caregivers in SSA. The interventions focused on providing informational, psycho-cognitive, and social support. Three interventions significantly improved quality of life outcomes for cancer patients and their caregivers. Significant gaps exist between the rapidly increasing cancer burdens and the limited psychosocial educational interventions supporting adult cancer patients and their families in SSA. The reviewed studies provide preliminary evidence on development and testing interventions that aim to improve patients' and caregivers' quality of life.

Perspectives, perceived self-efficacy, and preparedness of newly qualified physicians' in practising palliative care-a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Dealing with life-limiting illnesses, death, dying and grief, is uncharted territory for medical graduates. It is a field that is heavily influenced by cultural, religio-spiritual and social factors. This adds complexity to palliative and end-of-life-care, which challenges newly qualified physicians and requires the formation of appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes in junior doctors. This study aimed to obtain insight into the perspectives, perceived self-efficacy, and preparedness of newly qualified Nigerian physicians in practising palliative care and identify potential variables influencing them.

METHODS

The study was a cross-sectional, multi-centre survey of newly qualified Nigerian physicians, using semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews. The data were analysed by applying content-structuring qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical house officers at two tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The perceived self-efficacy and preparedness of newly qualified Nigerian physicians in practising palliative care were reported to be higher in areas of family involvement, and pain and symptom management than in areas of breaking bad news, prognosis, and diagnosing dying. Major influences on the young physicians' perceived self-efficacy and preparedness in practising palliative care were socio-economic circumstances of a resource-limited setting and cultural-religious considerations. In addition, the perceived impact of palliative care education and experience was documented.

CONCLUSIONS

This study offers valuable insights into the perceived self-efficacy and preparedness of newly qualified physicians and reveals the influence of socio-cultural and socio-economic variables in Nigeria. Evidence of the social, cultural, and religio-spiritual dimensions of palliative care is indispensable for culturally sensitive care. These results could aid in the development of appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes in newly qualified physicians through culturally and contextually appropriate palliative care training measures. The results may be applicable to other sub-Saharan African settings and may be used to improve future palliative care education, training, and practice.

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.

Quality of life among patients with cancer and their family caregivers in the Sub-Saharan region: A systematic review of quantitative studies

Guided by the World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL) framework, this systematic review aimed to examine evidence about the prevalence and severity of QOL-related health problems and their influencing factors in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We identified eligible publications in English language from PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus with Full Text, Embase, APA PsycInfo, Scopus, and African Index Medicus databases. We included quantitative descriptive studies that measured overall and subdomains of QOL as the outcome in adult patients/survivors with cancer in SSA. Twenty-six descriptive cross-sectional studies (27 papers) that were conducted since 1988 in different SSA countries among patients with various types of cancer met our inclusion criteria. We found inconsistencies in how the prevalence and severity of QOL-related health problems have been researched and reported across studies, which complicated comparing findings and drawing conclusions. The most common factors that influenced the overall and subdomains of QOL included coping; internal and external locus of control; symptoms and symptom management; and religious beliefs and religious care. Demographics (e.g., age and marital status), cancer-related factors (cancer stage and type of treatment), and social determinants of health (e.g., education, access to information and resources, financial distress, and urban vs rural residency) also impacted QOL and its subdomains. Our findings indicate the significant need for recognizing and managing QOL-related problems for cancer patients and caregivers in SSA. Research needs to use culturally adapted, standardized assessment tools and analysis approaches to better understand the QOL challenges this population faces. Comprehensive supportive care is needed to address the complex QOL issues in resource-limited SSA.

Assessing unmet needs in advanced cancer patients: a systematic review of the development, content, and quality of available instruments

PURPOSE

Advances in treatment, including biological and precision therapies, mean that more people are living with advanced cancer. Supportive care needs likely change across the cancer journey. We systematically identified instruments available to assess unmet needs of advanced cancer patients and evaluated their development, content, and quality.

METHODS

Systematic searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PubMed, and PsycINFO were performed from inception to 11 January 2021. Independent reviewers screened for eligibility. Data was abstracted on instrument characteristics, development, and content. Quality appraisal included methodological and quality assessment, GRADE, feasibility, and interpretability, following consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments (COSMIN) guidelines.

RESULTS

Thirty studies reporting 24 instruments were identified. These were developed for general palliative patients (n = 2 instruments), advanced cancer (n = 8), and cancer irrespective of stage (n = 14). None focused on patients using biological or precision therapies. The most common item generation and reduction techniques were amending an existing instrument (n = 11 instruments) and factor analysis (n = 8), respectively. All instruments mapped to ≥ 5 of 11 unmet need dimensions, with Problems and Needs in Palliative Care (PNPC) and Psychosocial Needs Inventory (PNI) covering all 11. No instrument reported all of the COSMIN measurement properties, and methodological quality was variable.

CONCLUSIONS

Many instruments are available to assess unmet needs in advanced cancer. There is extensive heterogeneity in their development, content, and quality.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

Given the growth of precision and biological therapies, research needs to explore how these instruments perform in capturing the needs of people using such therapies.

What constitutes a palliative care need in people with serious illnesses across Africa? A mixed-methods systematic review of the concept and evidence

BACKGROUND

Clarity on what constitutes a palliative care need is essential to ensure that health systems and clinical services deliver an appropriate response within Universal Health Coverage.

AIM

To synthesise primary evidence from Africa for palliative care needs among patients and families with serious illness.

DESIGN

We conducted a mixed methods systematic review with sequential synthesis design. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42019136606) and included studies were quality assessed using Mixed Method Appraisal Tool.

DATA SOURCES

Six global literature databases and Three Africa-specific databases were searched up to October 2020 for terms related to palliative care, serious illnesses and Africa. Palliative care need was defined as multidimensional problems, symptoms, distress and concerns which can benefit from palliative care.

RESULTS

Of 7810 papers screened, 159 papers met eligibility criteria. Palliative care needs were mostly described amongst patients with HIV/AIDS (n = 99 studies) or cancer (n = 59), from East (n = 72) and Southern (n = 89) Africa. Context-specific palliative care needs included managing pregnancy and breastfeeding, preventing infection transmission (physical); health literacy needs, worry about medical bills (psychological); isolation and stigma, overwhelmed families needing a break, struggling to pay children's school fees and selling assets (social and practical needs); and rites associated with cultural and religious beliefs (spiritual).

CONCLUSIONS

Palliative care assessment and care must reflect the context-driven specific needs of patients and families in Africa, in line with the novel framework. Health literacy is a crucial need in this context that must be met to ensure that the benefits of palliative care can be achieved at the patient-level.

Palliative care needs among patients with advanced illnesses in Bhutan

Background

Palliative care improves the quality of lives of patients and families affected by advanced illnesses through the prevention and relief of suffering. While palliative care is well established in developed countries, it is inadequate or non-existent in most developing countries. Palliative care is an emerging concept in Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan Kingdom. A small community palliative care service is available in the national referral hospital with three dedicated inpatient palliative care beds. This study explored the needs for palliative care among patients diagnosed with advanced illnesses and is a component of a larger project aimed to inform a suitable palliative care model for the country.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. A survey, using a structured questionnaire including the EORTC QLQ-C30, was carried out among patients with advanced illness in hospitals, primary care units and communities across the country. Purposeful and snowball sampling strategies were used to recruit study participants.

Results

Seventy (76%), out of 93 eligible patients, agreed to participate in the survey. Participants reported low to moderate scores on physical, role, emotional, cognitive and social functioning, a moderate score for the global health/ quality of life scale and moderately high (worse) scores in symptoms including fatigue, pain, insomnia, loss of appetite and the financial impact from the disease.

Conclusions

The symptom burden experienced by patients affected by advanced illnesses demonstrates the need for palliative care in Bhutan. These findings will help inform the development of a public health-focused palliative care model, modified to the Bhutanese context, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

Barriers to the Provision and Utilization of Palliative Care in Africa: A Rapid Scoping Review

Palliative care (PC) has continued to be less available, underutilized, and unintegrated in many of the healthcare systems, especially in Africa. This scoping review synthesized existing published papers on adult PC in Africa, to report the barriers to PC and to assess the methodologies used in these studies. Eight electronic databases and Google Scholar were searched to identify relevant studies published between 2005 and 2018. Overall, 42 publications (34 empirical studies and 9 reviews) that reported issues related to barriers to adult PC were selected. Three themes identified were individual-level, system-level, and relational barriers. The studies reviewed predominantly utilized cross-sectional and retrospective study design, underscoring the need for more studies employing qualitative design. Findings highlight the need for health education, training opportunities, more funding, communication, and timely referral. Future works could focus on underlying factors to these barriers and ethno-religious perspectives to PC in Africa.

Hospitalised patients with palliative care needs: Spain and Sweden compared

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to describe and compare symptoms, care needs and types of diagnoses in hospitalised patients with palliative care needs in Spain and Sweden.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, population-based study was carried out at two hospitals in both Spain and Sweden. Using a questionnaire, we performed 154 one-day inventories (n=4213) in Spain and 139 in Sweden (n=3356) to register symptoms, care needs and diagnoses. Descriptive analyses were used.

RESULTS

The proportion of patients with care needs in the two countries differed (Spain 7.7% vs Sweden 12.4%, p<0.001); however, the percentage of patients with cancer and non-cancer patients was similar. The most prevalent symptoms in cancer and non-cancer patients in both countries were deterioration, pain, fatigue and infection. The most common cancer diagnosis in both countries was lung cancer, although it was more common in Spain (p<0.01), whereas prostate cancer was more common among Swedish men (p<0.001). Congestive heart failure (p<0.001) was a predominant non-cancer diagnosis in Sweden, whereas in Spain, the most frequent diagnosis was dementia (p<0.001). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was common in both countries, although its frequency was higher in Spain (p<0.05). In total, patients with cancer had higher frequencies of pain (p<0.001) and nausea (p<0.001), whereas non-cancer patients had higher frequencies of deterioration (p<0.001) and infections (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The similarities in symptoms among the patients indicate that the main focus in care should be on patient care needs rather than diagnoses. Integrating palliative care in hospitals and increasing healthcare professional competency can result in providing optimal palliative care.

Barriers and benefits of model development for integration of palliative care for cancer patients in a developing country: A qualitative study

AIM

The aim of the study was to identify barriers and benefits in establishing a model for integration of palliative care of cancer patients in daily clinical practice in tertiary health institutions.

METHODS

This was a qualitative design study using in-depth interviews with four stakeholders and focus group discussions with 19 nurse managers using purposive sampling to select the participants, utilizing interpretive paradigm method. Need was ascertained for a model that would guide nursing care for cancer patients.

RESULTS

Barriers identified in relation to integrating palliative care in daily clinical practice included lack of hospital policies about palliative care activities, cultural influences, denial or rejection of diagnosis by patients, inappropriate attitude of health care workers, patients failing to keep check-up appointments and financial implications of setting up a dedicated palliative care team. Benefits of the model were twofold: hospital outcomes and patients/family outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Quality care for cancer patients/families calls for the adoption of clearly set out principles of palliative care as an integral component of daily practice. Challenges to implementation of palliative care services in hospitals can be overcome by establishing workable policies and allocating adequate funds for palliative care activities.