Patients' perception of hope in palliative care: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to systematically review and synthesize the literature on patients' perceptions of hope in palliative care.

METHODS

PubMed, Scopus, SocINDEX, Cochrane, and Web of Science were screened against the eligibility criteria. After familiarization with the data and conduction of the coding process, studies were thematically analyzed using Braun and Clarke's methodology. The research question guiding our analysis was: what is said about hope from patients in PC?

RESULTS

The database searches yielded 24 eligible studies. Three main themes emerged from the studies: Hope beliefs (encompassing patients' understanding of hope and characteristics assigned to it), Hope functions (including the role that hope plays for patients) and Hope work (highlighting aspects that in patients' perspective cultivate hope).

CONCLUSION

This review emphasizes the importance of acknowledging patients' understanding of hope, its role, and the efforts required to sustain it. In particular, it suggests that hope serves as a valuable strategy, fostering meaningful personal relationships towards end of life.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

In order to address communication challenges in clinical practice, a potential fruitful strategy for nurturing hope could involve engaging family and friends in hope interventions facilitated by healthcare professionals.

Readiness for hospital discharge post-initial invasive percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage: A mixed-methods study

This study explores perceptions regarding hospital discharge readiness among patients with post-first invasive percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD), family caregivers, and healthcare providers who are involved during the discharge period. A convergent mixed-method design was applied. A purposive sample of 30 patients completed a scale measuring readiness for hospital discharge, and 30 participants, including patients, family caregivers, and healthcare providers, participated in in-depth interviews. Descriptive analyses were combined with quantitative data, thematic analyses with qualitative data, and joint displays with mixed analyses. Findings indicate that readiness for hospital discharge was high, the expected support subscale was at the highest possible level, and the personal status subscale was at the lowest level. Three main themes emerged from an analysis of the interview transcripts: improved health conditions, self-care knowledge, and homecare preparedness. Self care knowledge had three sub-themes: taking care of biliary drainage, consuming a suitable diet, and observation of abnormal symptoms. Being ready for hospital discharge contributes to a safer transition from hospital to home. Healthcare providers need to reconsider the criteria for discharge and clarify patients' individual needs. Patients, family caregivers, and healthcare providers need to be prepared for hospital discharge.

Relationships among hope, meaning in life, and post-traumatic growth in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A cross-sectional study

AIM

This study aimed to investigate the relationships among hope, meaning in life, and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study design.

METHODS

Between October 2018-September 2019, 221 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient completed the questionnaires including sociodemographic information, Chinese Version of Herth Hope Index, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and Post-traumatic Growth Inventory. Descriptive analysis, Spearman's correlation analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis H test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the ridge regression analysis were used for analysis.

RESULTS

Spearman's correlation analysis showed that hope and meaning in life were positively interrelated with PTG (r = 0.20-0.45, r = 0.36-0.54, p < 0.01). Ridge regression analysis results showed that hope, meaning in life, time since diagnosis, habitation, medical insurance, and monthly income could explain 47.30% of the variance in PTG (F = 33.863, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Chinese patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease experienced a slightly positive change in meaning in life and a moderate degree of hope and PTG. Results suggested that hope and meaning in life were positively connected with PTG. Therefore, enhancing hope and meaning in life might be crucial for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to promote PTG.

IMPACT

The findings added better understanding of relationships among hope, meaning in life, and post-traumatic growth in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which can help nurse give interventions in the early stage of disease diagnosis.

Conceptual Foreknowings: An Integrative Review of Hope

Hope is a universal humanuniverse living experience. To advance nursing knowledge of hope as a universal humanuniverse living experience, the scholar dwelled with printed material on hope and explored with pattern preferences. The purpose of this paper is to set forth the conceptual foreknowings arising from the integrative review of literature from diverse disciplines. Four themes arose from the review, which are elaborated here.