Stability of End-of-Life Care Wishes and Gender-Specific Characteristics of Outpatients with Advanced Cancer under Palliative Therapy: A Prospective Observational Study.

Introduction: Early integration of palliative care and advance care planning (ACP) play an increasingly important role in the treatment of patients with advanced cancer. Advance directives (ADs) and patients' preferences regarding end-of-life (EoL) care are important aspects of ACP. In the outpatient setting, the prevalence of those documents and EoL care wishes is not well investigated, and changes in the longitudinal course are poorly understood.

Supportive care needs and health-related quality of life in cancer patients receiving palliative care.

Objective: Cancer patients receiving palliative care experience a variety of impairments in their quality of life (QoL), and have corresponding supportive care needs (SCNs). The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between SCNs, satisfaction with QoL dimensions, and the perceived importance of these dimensions.

Method: A sample of 152 cancer patients receiving palliative care were included in this cross-sectional study.

Systematic symptom screening in patients with advanced cancer treated in certified oncology centers: results of the prospective multicenter German KeSBa project.

Purpose: Guidelines recommend a structured symptom screening (SC) for especially advanced cancer patients (CPs). The aim of this multicenter German prospective quality assurance project KeSBa (Kennzahl Symptom- und Belastungserfassung) was to gain knowledge on SC procedures in Oncology Centers (OCs) for advanced cancer patients and a first impression on the consequences of SC.

Methods: The KeSBa project consisted of three phases: pilot, 3 months screening and feedback phase.

[Exhaustion and overload of family caregivers of palliative cancer patients].

Family caregivers of terminal ill cancer patients receiving home based palliative care were interviewed at 2 measurement points. Symptoms of exhaustion and overload (Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, CBI) and caregiver burden (German version of the "Burden Scale for Family Caregivers", BSFC-10) were assessed. The physical and emotional exhaustion of the family caregivers increased over the time of care, regardless of age, gender, education and religion.