Do Healthy People Engage With Education About Death, Dying and Advance Care Planning? An Early Evaluation of the Omega Course.

Death can be difficult to address personally, to discuss and to plan for. Since 2016 The Omega Course (Omega) has educated local people in Kenilworth, UK, about death and dying; broaching these issues and teaching communication skills whilst enabling social interaction. It aspires to produce practical outcomes with positive implications for end of life (EoL) planning and future neighbourhood care within the town.

Professional Support After Partner Loss: Likelihood and Correlates of Help-Seeking Behavior.

Intimate partner loss in later life can be one of the most stressful events in adulthood. Individuals who struggle to adapt to the new life conditions may need support from a mental health professional. However, less is known about the likelihood to seek professional help after separation, divorce, or bereavement in later life and associated factors.

Comparison of informal caregiver and named nurse assessment of symptoms in elderly patients dying in hospital using the palliative outcome scale.

Objectives: A prospective study of symptom assessments made by a healthcare professional (HCP; named nurse) and an informal caregiver (ICG) compared with that of the patient with a terminal diagnosis. To look at the validity of HCP and ICG as proxies, which symptoms they can reliably assess, and to determine who is the better proxy between HCP and ICG.

Methods: A total of 50 triads of patient (>65 years) in the terminal phase, ICG and named nurse on medical wards of an acute general hospital.

PA14 The legacy of cancer: why a health promoting approach is so important in palliative care.

Background: A diagnosis of cancer and anticipated death of a loved one has a significant impact on the whole family. Research has mainly focused on carers, with little emphasis on the wider, long-term implications.

Aim: To explore the cancer beliefs of patients with advanced cancer and their relatives.

PA2 Satisfaction with information received: perceptions of the patient and the informal caregiver.

Background: Provision of information to patients and families is a priority of palliative care. Lack of information on symptoms, treatment and disease progress adversely affects patients' and caregivers' abilities to self manage and participate in decision making and care. Qualitative reports of end of life care suggest caregivers seek more information than patients.

What interventions facilitate client progress through the assimilation model? A task analysis of interventions in the psychodynamic treatment of depression.

A variation of task analysis was used to build an empirical model of how therapists may facilitate client assimilation process, described in the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale. A rational model was specified and considered in light of an analysis of therapist in-session performances (N = 117) drawn from six inpatient therapies for depression. The therapist interventions were measured by the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale.

Clinician characteristics, communication, and patient outcome in oncology: a systematic review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to review the literature on clinician characteristics influencing patient-clinician communication or patient outcome in oncology.

Methods: Studies investigating the association of clinician characteristics with quality of communication and with outcome for adult cancer patients were systematically searched in MEDLINE, PSYINFO, PUBMED, EMBASE, CINHAL, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library up to November 2012. We used the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses statement to guide our review.

Working alliance in communication skills training for oncology clinicians: a controlled trial.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of communication skills training (CST) on working alliance and to identify specific communicational elements related to working alliance.

Methods: Pre- and post-training simulated patient interviews (6-month interval) of oncology physicians and nurses (N=56) who benefited from CST were compared to two simulated patient interviews with a 6-month interval of oncology physicians and nurses (N=57) who did not benefit from CST. The patient-clinician interaction was analyzed by means of the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).

[Assimilation of problematic experiences: a case study on short-term dynamic psychotherapy].

The assimilation model is a qualitative and integrative approach that enables to study change processes that occur in psychotherapy. According to Stiles, this model conceives the individual's personality as constituent of different voices; the concept of voice is used to describe traces left by past experiences. During the psychotherapy, we can observe the progressive integration of the problematic voices into the patient's personality.

Finding a pathway: information and uncertainty along the prostate cancer patient journey.

Objectives: To investigate the role of information in mediating the potential negative effects of uncertainty in prostate cancer in relation to the individual patient journey, conceptualized as the individual's response to his disease over time.

Design: A qualitative methodology was adopted to investigate men's constructions of their experience of information and its changing role in the management of uncertainty along the pathway of care. A cross-sectional design allowed comparison of the responses of men at similar stages and along different time points in the cancer pathway.

Information needs and prostate cancer: the development of a systematic means of identification.

Objective: To design, from first principles, a valid and reliable scale for assessing the importance of specific items of information needed by patients with prostate cancer that would be straightforward to use in clinical settings, as despite its prevalence, there is little research focusing specifically on the information needs associated with prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: Several stages of consultation and modification were used to inform the development of a scale which was then piloted on 96 patients with prostate cancer. Respondents were asked to rate the importance they placed on a range of prostate cancer-related topics of information, and the extent to which they felt these information needs had been met.

Androgen receptor concentrations in needle biopsy specimens of human liver.

The liver is a steroid-responsive organ and contains high levels of androgen receptors (AR). The present study investigated cytosolic AR concentrations in diseased human liver obtained by needle biopsy. Insufficient tissue was available for full Scatchard analysis.