Palliative care is increasingly recognized as relevant to the care of advanced disease in a variety of settings. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) results in scarring of the lung, respiratory failure and, commonly, death within 3-5 years of diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a 6-week program designed using palliative care concepts (PRISIM) on symptom burden and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with IPF and their care partners. Subjects were 42 participants randomized to an experimental (10 patients/care partners) or control (11 patients/care partners) group. The experimental group attended the 6-week PRISIM program and the control group received usual care. Prior to and immediately after attending the program, all participants completed questionnaires designed to assess anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and HRQoL. Participation in PRISIM decreased perceptions of physical HRQoL and tended to increase anxiety. Nevertheless, post course evaluations were highly positive. Post study qualitative interviews with experimental group participants yielded three common themes that reached saturation: patients did not feel isolated, were able to put their disease into perspective, and felt it important to participate in research and help others. Palliative interventions may increase anxiety but appear to yield other positive effects. Further exploration of the impact of such interventions is needed using both qualitative and quantitative methodology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04142008-131220 |
| Date | 15 April 2008 |
| Creators | Lindell, Kathleen Oare |
| Contributors | Leslie Hoffman, PhD, RN, Ellen Olshansky, DNSc, RN, Thomas J. Zullo, PhD, Mi-Kyung Song, PhD, RN, Naftali Kaminski, MD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04142008-131220/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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