Compassion in Italian palliative care: Investigating healthcre professionals' perspectives using focus groups.

Compassion, a complex response aimed at alleviating suffering, plays a crucial role in healthcare professionals' (HCPs) patient care, especially in palliative settings. This study explored compassion in Italian palliative care HCPs using focus groups. A total of 52 palliative care HCPs participated in this study across five focus groups.

The association of compassion with dignity and symptoms in end-of-life cancer patients.

Objectives: Compassion is essential in palliative care; however, there is a lack of evidence of the association between this construct and patients' dignity-related distress. The present study aimed to investigate the association between end-of-life cancer patients' sense of dignity, the level of compassion of the healthcare professionals (HCPs) noticed and perceived by the patients, and levels of compassion that HCPs felt they had toward patients, investigating through specific attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, the relationship between compassion and patients' physical and psychological symptoms, such as levels of anxiety and depression, was also investigated.

Demoralization Syndrome in End-Of-Life Cancer Patients: A Qualitative Study.

Objectives: In our previous study we analyzed the prevalence of demoralization in a sample of 235 end-of-life cancer patients using the Demoralization Scale (DS). The findings revealed that 50.2% of the participants reported experiencing a moderate level of demoralization.

End-Of-Life Cancer Patients' Dignity Perception Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic.

The safety and restriction regulations implemented to contain the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted people's quality of life compromising the perception of dignity. Preserving dignity for end-of-life patients remains a paramount objective in palliative care. This study aimed to compare dignity levels in terminal cancer patients between pre- and during-pandemic periods.

Spiritual issues, beliefs, needs, and resources in palliative healthcare providers: An Italian qualitative study.

The significance of spirituality in navigating the meaning of illness and death has been well-established. However, healthcare professionals working with palliation also grapple with their own spiritual dimensions when confronted with these circumstances. This study aimed to explore spirituality from a subjective standpoint among a sample of palliative care professionals, investigating its role and associated needs.

Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event that further stimulated the debate on the concept of trauma. To increase knowledge about the traumatic potential of the pandemic, the main objective of this study was to identify, through a systematic literature review, the main factors associated with the adaptive outcome of post-traumatic growth caused by COVID-19. Studies were selected from the PsychInfo, Embase, and PubMed databases, and 29 articles were included at the end of the screening process.

The Italian versions of the This Is ME Questionnaire and the Patient Dignity Question: Understanding personhood and supporting dignity in patients with terminal cancer.

Objectives: Patients with cancer at the end of life may suffer from high psychological distress, a sense of demoralization, and a lack of dignity related to their medical condition. The This Is ME (TIME) Questionnaire and the Patient Dignity Question (PDQ) are clinical tools developed to achieve comprehensive and personalized patient care and to deepen our understanding of personhood. The objective of this study was to translate and validate the TIME Questionnaire, which contains the PDQ, into Italian to evaluate patient satisfaction of the Italian version of these tools and to identify essential themes elicited by the tools.

Self-Transcendence: Association with Spirituality in an Italian Sample of Terminal Cancer Patients.

Terminally ill cancer patients often experience demoralization and loss of dignity, which undermines their spiritual wellbeing, which could, however, be supported by the presence of other factors such as self-transcendence and religious coping strategies. To assess self-transcendence and religious coping strategies and how they influence spirituality, we studied 141 end-stage cancer patients (64.3% male; mean age 68.

Loss of Personal Autonomy and Dignity-Related Distress in End-Of-Life Cancer Patients.

The objective of this cross-sectional study is to investigate Dignity-Related Loss of Personal Autonomy (DR-LPA) intended as loss of relational independence causing dignity-related distress. Moreover, it analyzes its possible relationships with demoralization, spirituality, quality of life, hope, and coping styles in a sample composed of 207 end-of-life cancer patients. These variables have been assessed through the following rating scales: Patient Dignity Inventory - Italian version, Demoralization Scale - Italian version, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale - General Measure, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Spiritual Well-Being, Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced, and Herth Hope Index.

Relationship between demoralization and quality of life in end-of-life cancer patients.

Objective: To examine the relationship between demoralization and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of end-of-life cancer patients with a life expectancy of 4 months or less undergoing palliative care, controlling for sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables.

Methods: Sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological data from 170 end-of-life cancer patients were collected using the following scales: Edmonton Symptom Assessment System for palliative care patients' symptoms; Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale - General Measure (FACT-G) for HRQoL; Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Spiritual Well-Being for spirituality (FACIT-Sp); Demoralization Scale - Italian Version (DS-IT) for demoralization.

Results: The DS-IT showed that 51.

The Italian validation of the Death and Dying Distress Scale.

Objectives: Death anxiety (DA), a condition characterized by fear, angst, or panic related to the awareness of one's own death, is commonly observed in advanced cancer patients. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Death and Dying Distress Scale (DADDS-IT) in a sample of patients with advanced cancer.

Methods: The sample included 200 Italian advanced cancer patients meeting eligibility criteria to access palliative care.

End-of-life cancer patients' total pain: the necessity to supplement pharmacology with psycho-socio-spiritual treatments.

To analyze pain considering its different bio-psycho-social-spiritual manifestations and to assess the effectiveness of the analgesic treatments in end-of-life cancer patients. The study was cross-sectional. A total of 376 end-of-life cancer inpatients participated in the research.

Is there a relationship between end-of-life cancer patients' dignity-related distress and caregivers' distress? An exploratory study.

Objectives: The mutual influence between end-of-life cancer patients and their family caregivers is widely endorsed. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between end-of-life cancer patients' dignity-related distress and the distress of their caregivers.

Method: A cross-sectional approach was used.

Compassion: Learning Needs and Training Opportunities-a Survey Among Palliative Healthcare Providers in Italy.

Compassion is a key quality in palliative care; however, there is a lack of evidence of the need to discuss the theme of compassion and professionals' training in the subject. The study aimed to investigate the knowledge of the construct of a sample of Italian healthcare professionals (HCPs) working in palliative care. In addition, their learning needs and training opportunities were explored.

Hospice palliative care professionals' opinions, emotions, skills and ethical reflections during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presented an extraordinary challenge for palliative care in Italy.

Aim: To investigate the opinions, emotions, skills, resources, critical issues and ethical aspects of palliative care encountered by hospice palliative care professionals in Italy.

Methods: Content analysis was performed on the answers to a survey distributed by e-mail.

Psychosocial factors associated with complicated grief in caregivers during COVID-19: Results from a preliminary cross-sectional study.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how end-of-life ceremonies are performed, affecting grief processing and bereavement experiences. In this study, caregivers of patients who died with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic were asked to complete an online survey designed to detect psychosocial factors associated with the presence of complicated grief (CG). The results show CG present in 48.

Interprofessional Communication Team for Caregivers of Patients Hospitalized in the COVID-19 Wards: Results From an Italian Experience.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency restrictions did not allow clinician family meetings and relatives' visits. In Molinette Hospital, a new communication model between healthcare providers and families of COVID-19 affected patients was developed by a team of physicians and psychologists. The study's aims were to investigate caregivers' distress and to analyse their satisfaction with the communications provided.

Personality matters: relationship between personality characteristics, spirituality, demoralization, and perceived quality of life in a sample of end-of-life cancer patients.

Purpose: Personality could be an interesting dimension to explore in end-of-life cancer patients, in order to investigate how personality affects quality of life. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relationship among personality through the Big Five Inventory (BFI), spirituality, and demoralization and to explore their impact on their quality of life.

Methods: A sample of 210 end-of-life Italian cancer patients were assessed with the BFI, the Demoralization Scale (DS), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-SP-12), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-General Measure (FACT-G), and the Karnofsky performance status.

Demoralization in End-of-Life Cancer Patients' Family Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of demoralization in a sample of end-of-life cancer patients' family caregivers and investigate the association between demoralization and different factors, such as distress, hope, quality of life, and caregiver burden.

Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design and 142 participants were sampled. Family caregivers were included if they were caring for a cancer patient in palliative care with a limited life expectancy.

Hope in end-of-life cancer patients: A cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: Hope promotes oncology patients' adaptability to their illness, regardless of the stage of cancer. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hope in a sample of end-of-life patients and to investigate the possible relationships between hope and a set of clinical and psychosocial measures.

Method: Three hundred and fifty end-of-life oncology patients, with a presumed life expectancy of 4 months or less and a Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) of 50 or lower, were administered the Italian validated versions of a set of rating scales during their first consultation with a psychologist.

Personality Traits and Sense of Dignity in End-of-Life Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Context: Patients' personality traits can play an important role in the end-of-life care process.

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality traits and dignity in cancer patients nearing death. In addition, the associations between personality traits and physical, psychological symptoms, and coping strategies during the end-of-life stage were explored.

Effectiveness of a brief manualized intervention, Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM), adapted to the Italian cancer care setting: Study protocol for a single-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Patients with advanced cancer suffer from psychosocial distress that may impair quality of life and that may be ameliorated by psychotherapeutic treatment. We describe here the methodology of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess the effectiveness of a novel, brief, semi-structured psychotherapeutic intervention to reduce distress and increase well-being in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. The intervention, called Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM), was originally developed in Canada and we are now testing its Italian adaptation (CALM-IT).

Death and Dying on the Social Network: An Italian Survey.

Death, bereavement, and grief are part of everyone's life experience. In the last few decades, media and social network platforms gradually began to influence people's ways of perceiving and coping with death and dying, and the research on the phenomenon of digital death is growing. Facebook is one of the most known and used social networks, and one of the few that developed specific measures to manage the profile pages of the deceased users.

A Qualitative Study to Explore Healthcare Providers' Perspectives on End-of-Life Patients' Dignity. How Can Dignity Be Defined, and Which Strategies Exist to Maintain Dignity?

Dignity is a core topic within palliative care, and thus, it is important to get a detailed assessment of healthcare providers' (HCPs) perspectives on this subject. This study aimed to explore various HCPs' perspectives on end-of-life patients' dignity by collecting different testimonies about what dignity entails and which strategies HCPs use to maintain patients' dignity. A sample of 104 participants was interviewed using two open questions to collect qualitative data.