At a glance
ClinicalIndex Comparison RecordStandardized by ClinicalIndex from the ClinicalTrials.gov record · verify against the source.
Palliative Care for Elderly Outpatients
In Brief
A clinical study evaluating Dignity Therapy - Nurse Led, Usual care, and 1 other intervention for Cancer Terminal. Completed, enrolled 579 participants across 1 site.
Detailed Summary
Our long-term goal is to improve spiritual care outcomes for elderly patients with cancer. The study team will use a spiritual intervention, Dignity Therapy (DT), to help these patients maintain pride, find spiritual comfort, enhance continuity of self, and ultimately make meaning of their life threatening illness.
Study Details
Timeline
Interventions
The nurse-led intervention involves three sessions, each of which follows a set process. The standardize approach to the delivery of the intervention facilitates a personal process of reflection and recognition that allows the patient to make meaning of their experience.
Palliative care nurses usually see patients each clinic visit to assess vital signs, function, symptoms, and to provide patient and family education. They document findings and interventions in the electronic health record (EHR). Whereas usual care for palliative care chaplaincy in the outpatient setting varies by site, chaplaincy care for usual care patients in this study will follow the usual practice for inpatient palliative care chaplaincy, which is to visit all new referrals to the clinic and assess their spiritual and religious needs. This assessment is then memorialized in a spiritual treatment plan documented in the EHR.
The chaplain-led DT intervention involves three sessions, each of which follows a set process. The standardize approach to the delivery of the intervention facilitates a personal process of reflection and recognition that allows the patient to make meaning of their experience.