Existential suffering in the day to day lives of those living with palliative care needs arising from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): A systematic integrative literature review

BACKGROUND

The impact of living with palliative care needs arising from COPD disrupts an individual's existential situation. However, no comprehensive synthesis of existing research has been published to determine the presentation and impact of existential suffering.

AIM

To provide a synthesis of existing evidence on existential suffering for those living with palliative care needs arising from COPD.

DESIGN

This is an integrative review paper, undertaken using the methodological approach developed by Soares and reported in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Data analysis was undertaking using an integrated convergent synthesis approach.

DATA SOURCES

Nine electronic databases were searched from April 2019 to December 2019. A second search was undertaken in January 2021 to identify recently published papers meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. No date restrictions were imposed. Only papers published in the English Language were considered for inclusion. Empirical research papers employing qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies and systematic literature reviews were included. Articles were accepted for inclusion if they discussed any component of existential suffering when living with COPD and palliative care needs.

RESULTS

Thirty-five papers were included within this review comprising of seven systematic reviews, 10 quantitative studies and 18 qualitative studies. The following themes relating to existential suffering were found: Liminality, Lamented Life, Loss of Personal Liberty, Life meaning and Existential isolation. The absence of life meaning, and purpose was of most importance to participants.

CONCLUSIONS

This review suggests existential suffering is present and of significant impact within the daily lives of those living with palliative care needs arising from COPD. The absence of life meaning has the most significant impact. Further research is required to understand the essential components of an intervention to address existential suffering for this patient group, to ensure holistic palliative care delivery.

Navigating the caregiving abyss: A metasynthesis of how family caregivers manage end-of-life care for older adults at home

BACKGROUND

Demographic changes (global aging, decreased fertility, increased home deaths) will present a critical need for end-of-life family caregivers of older adults at home. In order to support these family caregivers, we need to better understand their experiences, struggles, and needs.

AIM

To describe and explain the process of end-of-life caregiving as experienced by family caregivers of older adults residing in the home setting.

DESIGN

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Metaanalysis (PRISMA) guidelines and Sandelowski and Barroso's procedural steps for a metasynthesis review guided this study.

DATA SOURCES

Qualitative and mixed methods literature from CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases and information from professional organizations were reviewed for studies that focused on family caregivers providing end-of-life care to older adults residing in the home setting.

RESULTS

A total of 24 studies were identified. Family caregivers engaged in the process of "navigating a caregiving abyss" when providing and managing end-of-life-care for older adults at home. The "caregiving abyss" consisted of four phases: (1) managing multiple roles, (2) encountering challenges, (3) mobilizing resources, and (4) acknowledging death is near. During the process family caregivers strived to "live day by day" and "maintain normalcy" to achieve the goals of honoring life's final wishes and provide home death.

CONCLUSION

Family caregivers of older adults at the end of life navigate a variety of challenges. The findings provide a conceptual framework to help guide the development of education, interventions, and health policy to meet family caregivers' needs in providing quality end-of-life care.

Caring for patients at home after acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A phenomenological study of family caregivers' experiences

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To understand the experiences and support needs of informal caregivers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who return home following an acute exacerbation.

BACKGROUND

The presence of an informal caregiver is important to provide practical and emotional support after an episode of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, caregiving in such circumstances can be challenging and stressful.

DESIGN

Phenomenology.

METHODS

This is a phenomenological study based on semi-structured interviews with sixteen primary caregivers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Interview data were analysed using Colaizzi's descriptive analysis framework, to identify significant themes and sub-themes. Data were collected between April-December 2017 in a Teaching Hospital in Italy. The study was designed and reported following the COREQ guidelines and checklist.

RESULTS

Analysis elicited five themes embracing various aspects of the caregivers' lived experiences: (a) a home disrupted, (b) living with constant vigilance and anxiety, (c) feeling the need to escape (d) self-justifications for caregiving role/duty, and (e) feeling abandoned by professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that carers experience a range of difficulties when caring for their relative at home with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Some of these are linked to the physical disruption of their home but many are linked to feelings of inability to cope and the psycho-social impact of the caring role. The study also shows how participants felt unsupported by professionals. Focused support for carers is required to enable them to meet these challenges.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Healthcare professionals should be trained to provide technical and psychological support to caregivers especially during the phases of disease that may involve episodes of exacerbation. Home care and continuity of care can work if there is excellent communication and collaboration between healthcare professionals and caregivers. Developing appropriate support for family caregivers is essential to address the problems they can face.

Does the carer support needs assessment tool cover the established support needs of carers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? A systematic literature search and narrative review

BACKGROUND

Informal carers play a key supportive role for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, caring can have a considerable impact on health and wellbeing. Carers may have unidentified support needs that could be a target for intervention. Literature on the support needs of informal carers has not been fully synthesised, and our knowledge of the comprehensiveness of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool for these individuals is limited.

AIM

To explore whether the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool covers the support needs of carers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease identified in published literature.

DESIGN

English language studies were identified against predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria through database searching. Further studies were identified through searching reference lists and citations of included papers. Papers were critically appraised and data extracted and synthesised by two reviewers. Identified needs were mapped to Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool questions.

DATA SOURCES

MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, CDSR, ASSIA, PsycINFO and Scopus databases (Jan 1997-Dec 2017).

RESULTS

Twenty-four studies were included. Results suggest that carers have support needs in a range of domains including physical, social, psychological and spiritual. Many of these needs are unmet. Particular areas of concern relate to prolonged social isolation, accessing services, emotional support and information needs. Findings also suggest amendment of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool may be required relating to difficulties within relationship management.

CONCLUSION

Evidence suggests that carers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease would benefit from identification and response to their support needs by healthcare professionals but to enable this, the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool requires an additional question. Future planned work will explore this with carers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Patients' and caregivers' experiences of driving with chronic breathlessness before and after regular low-dose sustained-release morphine: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Chronic breathlessness is a disabling syndrome that profoundly impacts patients' and caregivers' lives. Driving is important for most people, including those with advanced disease. Regular, low-dose, sustained-release morphine safely reduces breathlessness, but little is known about its impact on driving.

AIM

To understand patients' and caregivers' (1) perspectives and experiences of driving with chronic breathlessness; and (2) perceived impact of regular, low-dose, sustained-release morphine on driving.

DESIGN

A qualitative study embedded in a pragmatic, phase III, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of low-dose, sustained-release morphine (⩽32 mg/24 h) for chronic breathlessness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted immediately after participants withdrew or completed the randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Informed by grounded theory, a constant comparative approach to analysis was adopted.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

Participants were recruited from an outpatients palliative care service in Adelaide, Australia. Participants included patients (n = 13) with severe breathlessness associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their caregivers (n = 9).

RESULTS

Participants were interviewed at home. Eleven received morphine 8-32 mg. Three themes emerged: (1) independence; (2) breathlessness' impact on driving; and (3) driving while taking regular, low-dose, sustained-release morphine.

CONCLUSION

Driving contributed to a sense of identity and independence. Being able to drive increased the physical and social space available to patients and caregivers, their social engagement and well-being. Patients reported breathlessness at rest may impair driving skills, while the introduction of sustained-release morphine seemed to have no self-reported impact on driving. Investigating this last perception objectively, especially in terms of safety, is the subject of ongoing work.

Two faces of the same coin: a qualitative study of patients' and carers' coexistence with chronic breathlessness associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

BACKGROUND

Chronic breathlessness is a recognized clinical syndrome that severely impacts patients and carers, who become increasingly restricted in their daily activities. Often, patients become reliant on their carers, who are required to provide constant support. Although individual experiences of breathlessness have been previously investigated, there are few studies exploring contemporaneous experiences of breathlessness of the patient and their carer. This study aimed to understand the experience of severe chronic breathlessness in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from the perspective of the patient and carer unit.

METHODS

A qualitative study embedded in a randomised, placebo-controlled effectiveness study (RCT) of regular, low-dose (≤32 mg/day), sustained-release morphine for chronic breathlessness associated with COPD. Recruitment occurred between July 2017 and November 2018 in one respiratory and palliative care services, in South Australia. Participants were community-dwelling patients with COPD and severe breathlessness (modified Medical Research Council scale 3 or 4) and their carers. Separate semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients and carers, recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was informed by grounded theory using a constant comparative approach.

RESULTS

From the 26 patients with a carer recruited for the RCT in South Australia, nine were interviewed in their homes. Six patients were men, median age 77 years. Carers were mostly women, who were their wives (n = 6), median age 70. Five themes emerged from the data: (1) shrinking world; (2) mutual adaptation; (3) co-management; (4) emotional coping; and (5) meaning in the face of death.

CONCLUSION

Chronic breathlessness is a systemic condition that permeates all aspects of the patient's and carer's lives. Working as a team, patients and carers manage chronic breathlessness to achieve maximal function and well-being. Patients and carers share many aspects of the experience of breathlessness, but the carer seems particularly susceptible to emotional distress. Future chronic breathlessness interventions should target the patient and the carer, both together and separately to address their common and individual needs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The main trial is registered (registration no. NCT02720822; posted March 28, 2016).

Assigned nurses and a professional relationship: a qualitative study of COPD patients' perspective on a new palliative outpatient structure named CAPTAIN

BACKGROUND

Little is known of how to organize non-malign palliative care, and existing knowledge show that patients with COPD live with unmet palliative needs and low quality of life. With the intent to improve palliative care for patients with COPD, we changed the structure of our outpatient clinic from routine visits by a pulmonary specialist to a structure where each patient was assigned a nurse, offered annual advance care planning dialogues, and ad hoc pulmonary specialist visits. The aim of this study was to explore COPD patients' experiences with a new and altered palliative organization.

METHODS

The design was interpretive description as described by Thorne. We conducted ten semi-structured interviews with patients with severe COPD from January 2017 to December 2017.

RESULTS

Patients described how the professional relationship and the availability of their nurse was considered as the most important and positive change. It made the patients feel safe, in control, and subsequently influenced their ability to self-manage their life and prevent being hospitalized. The patients did not emphasize the advanced care planning dialogues as something special or troublesome.

CONCLUSION

We showed that it is relevant and meaningful to establish a structure that supports professional relationships between patient, nurse and physician based on patients needs. The new way of structuring the outpatient care was highly appreciated by COPD patients and made them feel safe which brought confidence in self-management abilities.

Patients and informal caregivers' experiences of burden of treatment in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research

OBJECTIVE

To identify, characterise and explain common and specific features of the experience of treatment burden in relation to patients living with lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their informal caregivers.

DESIGN

Systematic review and interpretative synthesis of primary qualitative studies. Papers were analysed using constant comparison and directed qualitative content analysis.

DATA SOURCES

CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Scopus and Web of Science searched from January 2006 to December 2015.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES

Primary qualitative studies in English where participants were patients with lung cancer or COPD and/or their informal caregivers, aged >18 years that contain descriptions of experiences of interacting with health or social care in Europe, North America and Australia.

RESULTS

We identified 127 articles with 1769 patients and 491 informal caregivers. Patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals (HCPs) acknowledged lung cancer's existential threat. Managing treatment workload was a priority in this condition, characterised by a short illness trajectory. Treatment workload was generally well supported by an immediacy of access to healthcare systems and a clear treatment pathway. Conversely, patients, informal caregivers and HCPs typically did not recognise or understand COPD. Treatment workload was balanced with the demands of everyday life throughout a characteristically long illness trajectory. Consequently, treatment workload was complicated by difficulties of access to, and navigation of, healthcare systems, and a fragmented treatment pathway. In both conditions, patients' capacity to manage workload was enhanced by the support of family and friends, peers and HCPs and diminished by illness/smoking-related stigma and social isolation.

CONCLUSION

This interpretative synthesis has affirmed significant differences in treatment workload between lung cancer and COPD. It has demonstrated the importance of the capacity patients have to manage their workload in both conditions. This suggests a workload which exceeds capacity may be a primary driver of treatment burden.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42016048191.

Living with breathlessness: a systematic literature review and qualitative synthesis

What is the experience of people living with breathlessness due to medical conditions, those caring for them and those treating them, with regard to quality of life and the nature of clinical interactions?Electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus and PsycINFO) were searched (January 1987 to October 2017; English language), for qualitative studies exploring the experience of chronic breathlessness (patients, carers and clinicians). Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts and papers retrieved against inclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved with a third reviewer. Primary qualitative data were extracted and synthesised using thematic synthesis.Inclusion and synthesis of 101 out of 2303 international papers produced four descriptive themes: 1) widespread effects of breathlessness; 2) coping; 3) help-seeking behaviour; and 4) clinicians' responsiveness to the symptom of breathlessness. The themes were combined to form the concept of "breathing space", to show how engaged coping and appropriate help-seeking (patient) and attention to symptom (clinician) helps maximise the patient's quality of living with breathlessness.Breathlessness has widespread impact on both patient and carer and affects breathing space. The degree of breathing space is influenced by interaction between the patient's coping style, their help-seeking behaviour and their clinician's responsiveness to breathlessness itself, in addition to managing the underlying disease.

Imaging and imagining chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): Uruguayans draw their lungs

PURPOSE

This anthropological study investigated what people imagined chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to look like in their lungs, what may be influencing these images and how this imagery shapes embodiment.

METHOD

Employing graphic elicitation, in one of multiple ethnographic interviews, participants were asked to draw their lungs: "If we could look inside your chest now, what would we see?" Lung drawings and accompanying narratives and fieldnotes from 14 participants were analyzed for themes and patterns.

RESULTS

The theme of "imaging/imagining" emerged and three distinct patterns within this theme were identified: the microscope perspective, the X-ray perspective and the reduced pulmonary capacity perspective. These patterns demonstrate how embodiment can be shaped by an integration and reinterpretation of the medical images that form part of everyday clinic visits and pulmonary rehabilitation.

CONCLUSIONS

Medical technology and images impact patients' embodiment. Understanding this is important for rehabilitation practitioners who work in a challenging space created by potentially conflicting medical narratives: on the one hand, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is incurable permanent damage, and on the other, improvement is possible through rehabilitation. Drawing could be integrated into pulmonary rehabilitation and may help identify perceptions of the body that could hinder the rehabilitation process. Implications for rehabilitation Drawings, when combined with interviews, can lead to a deeper and more complex understanding of patients' perspectives and embodiment. Rehabilitation practitioners should be concerned with how patients embody the medical technology and imagery they are exposed to as part of the educational component of pulmonary rehabilitation and healthcare generally. Asking patients to visualize their illness through drawing may help pulmonary rehabilitation practitioners identify perceptions of the body which could hinder the patient's ability to reap the full benefit of their treatment.

A day in the life of a Ménière's patient: understanding the lived experiences and mental health impacts of Ménière's disease

Concepts of social practice are increasingly being used to understand experiences of everyday life, particularly in relation to consumption and healthy lifestyles. This article builds on this in the context of lives disrupted and reshaped by chronic illness. It uses social practice theory to examine the lived experiences of individuals with Ménière's disease; a long-term progressive vestibular disorder, defined by episodes of severe and debilitating vertigo, aural fullness, tinnitus and sensorineural hearing loss. Drawing on the findings of 20 in-depth narrative interviews with Ménière's patients, and eight spousal/partner interviews, we explore the impacts of the condition on sensory, temporal, spatial and social dimensions of the body. In doing so, we highlight the intensely embodied sensory and emotional work required to maintain connections between the 'competences', 'materials' and 'meanings' that constitute and sustain the performance of both mundane and meaningful social practices over time. As connections between these elements of social practice are disrupted during more active phases of the condition, affected individuals may be defected from old practices and recruited to new ones, often requiring both time and social support to find meaning or pleasure in these alternative ways of being in the world.

Between disruption and continuity: challenges in maintaining the 'biographical we' when caring for a partner with a severe, chronic illness

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive illness that changes the lives of patients and their spouses dramatically. The aim of this paper is to show how spouses of COPD patients integrate their tasks as informal carers with their role as spouses and the tensions and challenges involved in this. The study draws on qualitative interviews with spouses of COPD patients, recruited from the patient pool of ambulatory pulmonary services of two hospitals in Oslo, Norway. The spouses described their great efforts to re-establish normality and continuity in their everyday lives. Accomplishing this was a delicate process because they faced several dilemmas in this work. They balanced the need to sustain the independence and integrity of both parties against the need to ensure safety and deal with the progression of the illness. We propose 'biographical we' as a concept that can highlight the great effort spouses put into establishing a sense of continuity in their lives. In times when healthcare policy involves mobilising informal caregiving resources, an awareness of the complexity of caregiving relationships is crucial when developing appropriate support for informal carers.

Informal caregivers of patients with COPD: Home Sweet Home?

The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on society is increasing. Healthcare systems should support patients with COPD in achieving an optimal quality of life, while limiting the costs of care. As a consequence, a shift from hospital care to home care seems inevitable. Therefore, patients will have to rely to a greater extent on informal caregivers. Patients with COPD as well as their informal caregivers are confronted with multiple limitations in activities of daily living. The presence of an informal caregiver is important to provide practical help and emotional support. However, caregivers can be overprotective, which can make patients more dependent. Informal caregiving may lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, social isolation and a changed relationship with the patient. The caregivers' subjective burden is a major determinant of the impact of caregiving. Therefore, the caregiver's perception of the patient's health is an important factor. This article reviews the current knowledge about these informal caregivers of patients with COPD, the impact of COPD on their lives and their perception of the patient's health status.

"The unpredictable death"-The last year of life for patients with advanced COPD: Relatives' stories

OBJECTIVE

The end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is described as prolonged, and the symptom burden for patients with COPD is often high. It progresses slowly over several years and can be punctuated by abrupt exacerbations that sometimes end in sudden death or a recovery of longer or shorter duration. This makes it difficult to identify the critical junctures in order to prognosticate the progress and time of death. Patients with COPD often express a fear that the dying process is going to be difficult. There is a fear that the dyspnea will worsen and lead to death by suffocation. The present article aimed to retrospectively describe the final year of life for patients with advanced COPD with a focus on death and dying from the perspective of relatives.

METHOD

Interviews were conducted with the relatives of deceased family members who had advanced COPD. In total, 13 interviews were conducted and analyzed by means of content analysis.

RESULT

All relatives described the patients as having had a peaceful death that did not correspond with the worry expressed earlier by both the patients and themselves. During the final week of life, two different patterns in the progress of the illness trajectory emerged: a temporary improvement where death was unexpected and a continued deterioration where death was inevitable.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

The patients and their relatives lived with uncertainty up until the time of death. Little support for psychosocial and existential needs was available. It is essential for the nurse to create relationships with patients and relatives that enable them to talk about dying and death on their own terms.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and comorbidities through the eyes of the patient

Patient's attitudes and illness beliefs have shown to be of great importance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As former qualitative research has mainly focused on patients with end-stage COPD, who are recruited within hospital or pulmonary rehabilitation settings, and excluding patients with disabling comorbidities, this study specifically aims to explore the perspectives of patients with COPD and comorbidities in primary care. This study was designed as a qualitative, explorative study using open patient interviews. The study was conducted at three primary care practices, East Flanders, Belgium. A total number of seven patients, diagnosed with COPD and given a minimum score of 2 on the Charlson Comorbidity Index were included. In-depth interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was deductive using NVivo software. Researchers' triangulation was performed. Participants show high adaptation capabilities and report quite positively about their functional status, with an emphasis on social participation and partnership. Knowledge of the causes and consequences of COPD appears rather limited, and participants predominantly show an external locus of control in relation to the reported factors influencing the disease and strategies for self-management. Patients with COPD with comorbidity integrate their illness and symptoms into their lives. However, a lack of knowledge and education may leave them more anxious and more dependent on health care than necessary. Our results indicate that health care workers should adopt a positive approach toward patient's functioning and empower and inform their patients. We believe that chronic care for patients with COPD should provide personalized rehabilitation taking into account individual patient characteristics and self-management and coping attitudes. We believe that there is a generic core to be identified, which can tackle both COPD and comorbidities. Further research is mandatory to develop these generic programs focusing on patients with complicated needs. Primary care can provide the setting for exploration.

Conceptions of daily life in men living with a woman suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

AIM

To describe conceptions of daily life in men living with a woman suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in different stages of the disease.

BACKGROUND

A chronic disease like COPD affects not only the person living with the illness, but also the spouse. Significant tasks and demands are placed on husbands. COPD has for a long time been considered more a man's disease than a woman's disease, but according to new evidence COPD is a vast problem in women, which requires support from their spouses. The literature review did not reveal any previous studies concerning conceptions of daily life in men living with women suffering from COPD in different stages.

METHODS

A phenomenographic study was conducted. Data were collected from October 2008 to October 2009 through semi-structured interviews with 19 men living with a woman suffering from COPD.

FINDINGS

Two main descriptive categories were found: (1) unchanged life situation where no support was needed; (2) changed life situation related to severity of COPD, where support was needed. The categories were described from the perspective 'ME and my spouse'. Even in their caregiving situation, the men continued with their own life and activities and did not put themselves in second place. No support was needed from healthcare or municipality when the women had mild COPD, but this changed when the COPD progressed. The men felt that daily life was burdened, restricted and the partner relationship was affected, even if the disease had not reached the final stage. The COPD forced them gradually into a caregiving role, and their daily life changed. They become more of a caregiver than a spouse. The men experienced lack of knowledge and support, and they felt that health professionals and municipality did not care about them.