Effect of Narrative-Based Palliative Care on Psychological Stress, Quality of Life, and End-of-Life Acceptance in Elderly Terminal Cancer Patients and Their Families.
{"title":"Effect of Narrative-Based Palliative Care on Psychological Stress, Quality of Life, and End-of-Life Acceptance in Elderly Terminal Cancer Patients and Their Families.","authors":"Junhua Li, Linlin Zhou, Lijie Sun","doi":"10.1177/00031348261429443","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>ObjectiveThis study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the impacts of narrative-based palliative care on psychological stress, end-of-life acceptance, and quality of life in elderly terminally ill cancer patients and their family caregivers.MethodsThis single-center, small-sample randomized controlled study enrolled 50 elderly terminal cancer patients. Patients were randomly assigned to either the observation group or the control group (n = 25 each). The observation group received narrative-based palliative care, while the control group received routine standard care. Family psychological stress was assessed using the Relative Stress Scale (RSS), and patients' perceived stress was evaluated with the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10). Caregiver satisfaction was measured using a hospital-developed questionnaire. Patients' quality of life was evaluated using the SF-36, Chinese Version of the Death Attitude Profile (DAP-C), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively.ResultsBaseline characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups (<i>P</i> > .05). Post-intervention, the observation group demonstrated significantly lower psychological stress among family members and higher caregiver satisfaction (<i>P</i> < .05). Patients in the observation group reported better quality of life, improved sleep, and greater acceptance of death than those in the control group (<i>P</i> < .05).ConclusionAs a small-sample, single-center study, these findings offer preliminary evidence that narrative-based palliative care may reduce psychological stress in elderly terminal cancer patients and caregivers while enhancing patients' quality of life, sleep quality, and acceptance of death. However, the limited sample size, single-site design, and narrow inclusion criteria restrict generalizability. Larger multicenter trials are needed to confirm these results.</p>","PeriodicalId":7782,"journal":{"name":"American Surgeon","volume":" ","pages":"2652-2660"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Surgeon","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00031348261429443","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/3/13 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SURGERY","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
ObjectiveThis study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the impacts of narrative-based palliative care on psychological stress, end-of-life acceptance, and quality of life in elderly terminally ill cancer patients and their family caregivers.MethodsThis single-center, small-sample randomized controlled study enrolled 50 elderly terminal cancer patients. Patients were randomly assigned to either the observation group or the control group (n = 25 each). The observation group received narrative-based palliative care, while the control group received routine standard care. Family psychological stress was assessed using the Relative Stress Scale (RSS), and patients' perceived stress was evaluated with the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10). Caregiver satisfaction was measured using a hospital-developed questionnaire. Patients' quality of life was evaluated using the SF-36, Chinese Version of the Death Attitude Profile (DAP-C), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively.ResultsBaseline characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups (P > .05). Post-intervention, the observation group demonstrated significantly lower psychological stress among family members and higher caregiver satisfaction (P < .05). Patients in the observation group reported better quality of life, improved sleep, and greater acceptance of death than those in the control group (P < .05).ConclusionAs a small-sample, single-center study, these findings offer preliminary evidence that narrative-based palliative care may reduce psychological stress in elderly terminal cancer patients and caregivers while enhancing patients' quality of life, sleep quality, and acceptance of death. However, the limited sample size, single-site design, and narrow inclusion criteria restrict generalizability. Larger multicenter trials are needed to confirm these results.
期刊介绍：
The American Surgeon is a monthly peer-reviewed publication published by the Southeastern Surgical Congress. Its area of concentration is clinical general surgery, as defined by the content areas of the American Board of Surgery: alimentary tract (including bariatric surgery), abdomen and its contents, breast, skin and soft tissue, endocrine system, solid organ transplantation, pediatric surgery, surgical critical care, surgical oncology (including head and neck surgery), trauma and emergency surgery, and vascular surgery.
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