The feasibility and acceptability of short-term, individual existential behavioural therapy for informal caregivers of patients recruited in a specialist palliative care unit.

Background: Existential behavioural therapy (EBT) is a recently developed intervention to support informal caregivers of patients in a specialist palliative care unit and was initially established as a six-session group programme. This pilot study aimed to test the feasibility and acceptability of an adapted short-term, individual approach of EBT in preparation for a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Methods: The study was conducted in a prospective, mixed methods design including four quantitiative assessments with embedded qualitative interviews at one assessment.

Meaning in life in palliative care patients.

Context: The construct "meaning in life" (MiL) has recently raised the interest of clinicians working in psycho-oncology and end-of-life care and has become a topic of scientific investigation.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare MiL in palliative care (PC) patients with a representative sample of the German population.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all PC patients treated in the PC inpatient unit and through the PC consult service at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Hospital, Munich, from May 2005 to July 2007 were eligible to participate.

Meaning in life in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The construct 'meaning in life' (MiL) has become increasingly important in palliative care. Several meaning-focused interventions have been developed recently. The aim of this study was to investigate MiL in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and compare the findings with a representative sample of the German population.