Patterns of Suffering in Palliative Care: A Descriptive Study

(Dis)Agreement with Dysthanasia, Religiosity and Spiritual Experience as Factors Related to Nurses' Workload during End-of-Life Care

This study intended to investigate whether the workload of nurses in the course of providing end-of-life care correlated with their religiousness, spiritual experience and level of agreement with dysthanasia procedures. The respondents included 279 nurses from four Croatian hospitals. A structured and validated instrument was applied. Almost 90% of respondents are religious, and almost 45% of them have daily spiritual experiences. Respondents, especially those with high levels of religiousness and spiritual experience, express a low level of agreement with dysthanasia (mean = 58.21; score = 25−125). Moreover, nurses self-rated (on a scale of 1−5) their workload as quite high, especially when performing contradictory tasks imposed on them by their superiors (mean = 3.05) and during direct contact with dying patients and their family members (mean = 2.56). This significantly highest level of workload was experienced by the youngest nurses (p = 0.01) and nurses with little work experience (p < 0.01). This study also indicated that nurses who agree with dysthanasia experienced a higher level of workload when providing end-of-life care (r = 0.178; p < 0.01), while more frequent spiritual experiences reduced the level of workload (r = −0.205; p < 0.01). A deeper understanding of nurses’ attitudes toward dysthanasia, as well as of their religiousness and spiritual experiences, may ensure the collection of data beneficial to the timely identification of potential risks caused by workload.

Suffering, psychological distress, and well-being in Indonesia: A prospective cohort study

Research on the subjective experience of suffering has typically focussed on older clinical samples living in Western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) countries. To further extend the existing body of empirical research on suffering to less WEIRD contexts, we use three waves of data (Wave 1: December 2020; Wave 2: January 2021; Wave 3: February 2021) from a sample of nonclinical Indonesian adults (n = 594) to examine associations between suffering, two indices of psychological distress, and 10 facets of well-being. In our primary analysis, we estimated a series of multiple regression models that adjusted for a range of sociodemographic characteristics, financial and material stability, religious/spiritual factors, prior values of overall suffering, and prior values of each outcome assessed in Wave 1. Results indicated that overall suffering assessed in Wave 2 was associated with an increase in both indices of psychological distress and a decrease in eight facets of well-being assessed in Wave 3. Using a similar analytic approach, results from a secondary analysis indicated that higher scores on both indices of psychological distress and lower scores on seven of the well-being facets assessed in Wave 2 were associated with worse subsequent overall suffering assessed in Wave 3. These findings contribute to empirical literature on the implications of suffering for well-being.

Workplace Stress in Portuguese Oncology Nurses Delivering Palliative Care: A Pilot Study

Oncology nurses often face complex end-of-life issues, underlining their need for specific training in palliative care. In this context, nurses experience several emotional and psychological dilemmas, which are often difficult to manage and result in high levels of workplace stress. This study aimed to determine the levels and work-related factors of workplace stress among oncology nurses. A descriptive baseline study was performed as part of a large four-phase study based on quantitative data collected from Portuguese oncology nurses. Of the 32 participating nurses, most were women, and the mean age was 42.69 ± 10.04 years. Overall, nurses revealed moderate levels of stress. Younger nurses with less professional experience had difficulties dealing with issues related to death and dying. This pilot study supported the development of a program of six Stress Management Training Workshops (SMTW) to reduce stress and increase adaptative strategies. Assessing workplace stress among oncology nurses should be the focus of intervention by managers and institutional leaders.