BMC Palliative Care最新文献

{"title":"Content, timing, participants and documented outcomes of family meetings in a specialist palliative care unit in Portugal: a retrospective descriptive study.","authors":"Helena Fragoeiro, Francisca Rego, Rui Nunes","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02189-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02189-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Family meetings are a core communication strategy in palliative care, but their content in routine clinical practice remains insufficiently described. This study aimed to characterize the timing, participants, goals, problems identified, and decisions reached in family meetings conducted in a specialist palliative care unit.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of all formally documented family meetings held in a certified palliative care unit in Portugal between October 2012 and December 2019. Data were extracted from standardized meeting records and electronic health records. Variables included patient characteristics, Palliative Performance Scale scores, meeting timing, participants, goals, problems identified, and final decisions. Free-text entries were thematically recoded when needed. Descriptive statistics were used.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 272 formally documented family meeting records were analysed. The unit of analysis was the meeting record. Physicians attended 99.3% of meetings, nurses 65.4%, social workers 45.2%, psychologists 23.5%, and patients 11.4%. The median time from admission to meeting was 9 days, and the median time from meeting to death was 13 days. Median Palliative Performance Scale score declined from 40% at admission to 30% at the meeting. Discharge after the meeting occurred in 84 records (30.9%). Common goals included clarifying expectations, building rapport, and discussing therapeutic options. Frequently identified problems concerned prognosis, symptoms, adequacy of clinical information, end-of-life issues, and discharge planning. Common decisions related to psychological or social support, discharge planning, comfort-focused care, and symptom management.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Family meetings provided a structured forum for communication, problem identification, and care planning across clinical and psychosocial domains. Their late timing and low patient participation suggest that earlier implementation and broader interdisciplinary involvement may strengthen patient- and family-centred care.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13474675/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148212970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of municipal healthcare setting on the quality of end-of-life care: a population-based cohort study.","authors":"Karin Dalhammar, Maria E C Schelin, Marie-Louise Möllerberg","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02186-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02186-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In Sweden, approximately half of all individuals who die receive municipal care prior to death. Access to high-quality palliative care remains unequal, with known disparities between both care settings and diagnostic groups. Individuals receiving municipal home care are at higher risk of acute hospital admissions and in hospital death than those in long-term care facilities. However, the impact of municipal care setting on the quality of end-of-life care is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to describe the impact of care setting on the quality of end-of-life care among patients receiving municipal healthcare services.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This population-based cohort study included all individuals reported during 2023-2024 in the Swedish Register for Palliative Care as recipients municipal palliative care during the last week of life (n = 50,219). Associations between care setting (ordinary housing, and long- and short-term care facilities) and end-of-life quality indicators were analyzed using modified Poisson regression to estimate risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and cause of death.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to individuals receiving care in ordinary housing, those in long- and short-term care were more likely to receive symptom assessments ([RR; 95% CI] 1.14; 1.09-1.19 vs. 1.08; 1.03-1.13). However, they were less likely to receive end-of-life information ([RR; 95% CI] 0.92; 0.91-0.94 vs. 0.98; 0.97-0.99), bereavement support for relatives ([RR; 95% CI] 0.98; 0.97-0.99 vs. 0.95; 0.94-0.96), and external pain consultations ([RR; 95% CI] 0.52; 0.49-0.57 vs. 0.81; 0.76-0.88).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Care setting influences the quality of municipal end-of-life care. Strengths and weaknesses vary across settings, highlighting the need for targeted quality improvement efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13251167/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148220367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Supportive care needs and quality of life in caregivers of cancer patients receiving home-based palliative care: a serial mediation model.","authors":"Tuba Metin, Özlem Uğur, Yasemin Kurtoğlu, Şenay Özer, Serkan Budak","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02126-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02126-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Family caregivers of cancer patients receiving home-based palliative care often experience growing responsibilities. Nonetheless, research remains scarce on the extent to which patients' clinical status is associated with caregivers' unmet needs and quality of life, particularly in terms of the interaction between patients and caregivers.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to examine the relationships of cancer patients' unmet supportive care needs and symptom burden with caregivers' quality of life and their own unmet supportive care needs through a multiple mediation model.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study comprised 124 cancer patients and 124 caregivers registered with a home-based palliative care unit. To explore the mediating roles of patients' unmet care needs and symptom burden, serial mediation analysis was performed using the PROCESS Macro (Model 6).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Caregivers reported considerable supportive care needs (mean = 2.94, SD = 0.80) and a moderate level of quality of life (mean = 70.72, SD = 19.02). A significant serial mediation pathway emerged, indicating that patients' unmet needs and symptom burden jointly mediated the relationship between caregivers' quality of life and supportive care needs (Total indirect effect = - 0.01; 95% CI: - 0.02 to - 0.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings suggest that the challenges experienced by patients and caregivers during the care process may reflect mutual interaction within an interdependent care system in home-based palliative care.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13480249/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148220346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Awareness and misconceptions of palliative care among paid, unpaid, and non-caregivers in the U.S.","authors":"Zhigang Xie, Young-Rock Hong, Jiaming Liang, Jumana Akter, Jiamin Hu, Carla Fisher, Diana Wilkie","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02190-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02190-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Palliative care improves quality of life for individuals with serious illnesses; however, misconceptions about it remain widespread. Caregivers, both paid professionals and unpaid family members, serve as critical intermediaries in healthcare decision-making for these patients. Little is known about differences in understanding of palliative care among non-caregivers, paid caregivers, and unpaid informal caregivers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We analyzed nationally representative data from the 2024 Health Information National Trends Survey. Survey design-adjusted Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression models were used to compare palliative care awareness and misconceptions across groups with different caregiving experiences.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 5,835 respondents (representing 217,985,076 U.S. adults) were included in the final analysis. Overall, 45.3% of non-caregivers, 55.9% of paid caregivers, and 61.9% of unpaid caregivers (p < .001) reported palliative care awareness. Awareness was highest among caregivers who cared for parents only (65.7%) or for patients with cancer (76.3%). In adjusted analyses, both paid (aOR, 2.88; 95% CI, 1.56-5.33) and unpaid (aOR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.68-3.27) caregivers had significantly higher odds of awareness compared with non-caregivers. Among those aware of palliative care, paid caregivers were most likely to hold the misconception that palliative care requires stopping other treatments (48.3% vs. 20.8% unpaid vs. 20.1% non-caregivers; p = .041).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Caregivers exhibit significantly greater palliative care awareness than non-caregivers, though paid caregivers report more misconceptions. Awareness also varies by caregiving relationship and disease type. These findings underscore the need for targeted educational strategies to enhance accurate understanding of palliative care across caregiving groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13474790/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148220342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Key practical aspects of perinatal palliative care: a scoping review mapping and grading their coverage in the literature.","authors":"Belén Doucet, Agustín Silberberg, Ana Martín-Ancel, Guadalupe Grimaux, Juana Moure, Albert Balaguer","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02188-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02188-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite growing recognition of the importance of perinatal palliative care (PnPC) as a comprehensive approach to supporting seriously ill fetuses or neonates and their families, its implementation in clinical practice remains nascent and heterogeneous. A synthesis of the literature may clarify which aspects are being addressed and how they are operationalized. We aimed to map how the key practical aspects (KPAs) of PnPC are reported in the literature and to assess the level of detail with which they are described.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a scoping review of PubMed in May 2025. We included articles that described, analyzed, or conceptualized practical aspects of PnPC programs or dedicated units. Following independent screening, 137 articles were included. We developed a KPA coding framework informed by landmark publications and guideline documents, and rated the depth of coverage for each KPA as 0 (not mentioned), 1 (mentioned), or 2 (discussed).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The proposed KPA coding framework comprised 42 items across seven domains. The most frequently mentioned KPAs included the composition and competencies of the interdisciplinary core team (80% of included articles), patient- and family-centered care, and support for memory-making practices. However, substantial variability was observed in the depth of coverage across KPAs. Patient- and family-centered care and shared decision-making were the most consistently discussed in depth (≥ 25% of articles). In contrast, internal organizational processes-including emotional support for healthcare professionals (14%), continuous quality-improvement systems (14%), and release from other clinical responsibilities during the dying process (1%)-were infrequently reported and rarely examined analytically. The role of the extended interdisciplinary team was discussed with limited depth compared with that of the core team.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The PnPC literature appears more developed in relational and family-centered approaches and in defining the interdisciplinary core team. However, the formalization of organizational processes, structured support for healthcare professionals, and system-level consolidation remain limited. These findings suggest that current priorities should focus less on identifying new care components and more on organizing already recognized elements into standardized, evaluable structures, including internal coordination processes, team support mechanisms, and the systematic integration of psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of care.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13474691/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148212924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Feasibility and acceptability of a rural palliative care intervention for patients with heart failure (RuPAL-HF).","authors":"Francesca X Piccolo, Eric C Anderson, Hanna Gutow, Claire M Johnson, Michelle D Nevers, Susan DeSanto-Madeya, Rebecca N Hutchinson","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02169-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02169-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>People with heart failure (HF) have unmet palliative care (PC) needs, particularly in rural areas. Collaborative care models may meet these needs by connecting primary care teams with urban palliative care specialists. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the Rural Palliative Care for Patients with Heart Failure (RuPAL-HF) intervention.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We recruited patients with HF from a rural Maine primary care clinic. A complex care team embedded in primary care was trained in PC. Specialty PC clinicians supported the team through weekly collaborative care meetings, providing coaching and case-specific guidance. Specialty palliative care clinicians also provided tele-PC when needed. Feasibility was assessed via recruitment, referral-to-completion rates, completion of advance care planning and surveys as well as collaborative care meeting attendance. Acceptability was assessed using qualitative methods through semi-structured interviews with patients, clinicians, and complex care team members.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The intervention was feasible and acceptable to patients, clinicians, and complex care team members. 31 patients were approached, 13 enrolled, and 12 (92.3%) completed all intervention components. All patients completed a serious illness conversation with the complex care team and 11 (84.6%) with the specialty PC physician. 12 patients (92.3%) completed an advance directive and 8 (61.5%) a Portable Medical Orders Form. Patients reported that goals-of-care conversations were not overly emotionally challenging, and they valued the telehealth option. All care team members attended trainings, completed surveys, and participated in ≥90% of collaborative care meetings. Complex care team members reported increased confidence and skills after trainings.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The RuPAL-HF intervention was feasible and acceptable for patients, clinicians, and complex care team members. Telehealth appeared feasible as a mechanism to support access to specialty PC. Further research is needed to evaluate this intervention in other rural sites, care teams, and health conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13474978/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148212916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing needs and goals of dementia caregivers: development of the COPE-ING measure.","authors":"Alyssa Aguirre, Andrew E Samson, Rovianne Tindaan, Jared F Benge","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02129-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02129-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Supportive interventions and outcome measures for caregivers typically focus on alleviating and evaluating negative psychosocial dimensions of caregiving. Caregiver instruments that focus narrowly on measuring and evaluating burden, strain, depression and anxiety may overlook a given caregiver's individual needs and goals. There is an urgent need to develop psychometrically sound tools that capture caregivers' unique needs and priorities. This study examines the psychometric properties of the novel Caregiver Outcomes of Psychotherapy Evaluation-Individualized Needs and Goals (COPE-ING) measure, designed to identify priorities and goals of dementia caregivers beyond burden to a more personalized, meaningful approach.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>After initial refinement of items with dementia caregivers and professionals (N = 52), the 15-item COPE-ING was administered to 100 dementia caregivers along with a range of psychosocial and dementia severity measures. We evaluated internal consistency and 2-week test-retest reliability, as well as convergent validity with caring burden, anxiety, and depression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Various needs were important to caregivers, suggesting that the COPE-ING taps a broad range of relevant caregiver goals. Subscales capturing needs for education and pragmatic support had modest correlations with existing caregiver burden measures, but demographic factors and caregiver burden explained less than 20% of the variance of caregivers' needs and goals.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Dementia caregivers are a heterogeneous group with varied needs and goals. Our initial study suggests that the COPE-ING tool can be a means of addressing critical gaps in caregiver research and practice by offering a psychometrically sound measure to quickly identify individualized caregiver needs and goals. The COPE-ING measure is a practical instrument for capturing these needs and goals of dementia caregivers in clinical and research settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13471300/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148206715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"Reconciling\"- conceptualising the grieving process of family members involved in assisted dying: a grounded formal theory.","authors":"Jonathan Bayuo, Prince Kyei Baffour, Elisha Baafi Oduro, Deborah Adedibu","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02185-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02185-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The death of a loved one invariably triggers a complex constellation of profound emotional, psychological, and physical grief reactions. While theoretical frameworks for understanding the grieving process are well-established, the advent of assisted dying presents a novel and under-examined context for grief and bereavement. Thus, this study sought to generate a theory explaining the grieving process of family members involved in assisted dying.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A grounded formal theory approach was employed. Extensive systematic searches were undertaken across various four databases for eligible qualitative studies. Constant comparison was employed to iteratively refine emerging codes and categories.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fifteen (15) qualitative studies were retained. Reconciling, emerged as central to conceptualising the grieving process associated with assisted dying reflecting four interconnected categories: navigating ambivalence, anticipating, transitioning, and navigating the aftermath. This process is characterised as a complex, iterative, and often non-linear proactive journey of meaning-making, through which families strive to integrate the profound dichotomies. Reconciling, as a mid-range theory, extends existing grief models by demonstrating that bereavement in assisted dying involves a proactive, ethically charged negotiation of autonomy, suffering, and relational responsibility; dimensions not accounted for in stage-based or oscillation models.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The grieving process in assisted dying is best understood as Reconciling, a dynamic, iterative negotiation of autonomy, suffering, love, and loss. Families move through ambivalence, anticipation, transition, and aftermath in ways that blend emotional complexity with profound meaning-making. This theory offers a transferable framework to understand and support families navigating this ethically charged form of bereavement.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13471580/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148206666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of online advance care planning (ACP) decision aid programmes on adults with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Zhihao Han, Yong Fang, Jianjian Yang, Shengyang Jiang, Guiyue Ma, Xiaoqin Ma","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02184-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02184-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Advance care planning (ACP) is important in cancer care, but discussions are often delayed or inconsistently implemented. Online ACP decision aid programmes may support ACP participation, although their effects in adults with cancer remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and supplementary sources was conducted from inception to 10 March 2026. Quantitative studies evaluating online ACP decision aid programmes for adults with cancer were included. Risk of bias was assessed using appropriate tools according to study design. Meta-analyses were performed using fixed- or random-effects models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Twelve studies met the eligibility criteria, including 10 randomised controlled trials, 1 pre-post study, and 1 single-arm quantitative evaluation study. Most studies were conducted in the USA. Pooled evidence showed that online ACP decision aid programmes significantly improved ACP documentation (OR = 2.06, 95% CI 1.29 to 3.27, p = 0.002) and ACP engagement (MD = 0.28, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.40, p < 0.0001). No statistically significant effects were found for AD completion (OR = 1.37, 95% CI 0.54 to 3.45, p = 0.50), satisfaction (MD = 0.15, 95% CI -0.25 to 0.55, p = 0.47), decisional conflict (MD=-0.72, 95% CI -5.87 to 4.43, p = 0.78), or anxiety (MD=-0.76, 95% CI -1.67 to 0.16, p = 0.11). Sensitivity analyses suggested that the findings for ACP documentation and ACP engagement were relatively robust, whereas the results for satisfaction and anxiety were less stable.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Online ACP decision aid programmes may support ACP in adults with cancer, particularly by improving ACP engagement and ACP documentation. However, evidence for benefits beyond ACP process outcomes remains limited or inconsistent. Further rigorous studies are needed to identify effective programme features and implementation strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13471503/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148195166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A nurse-led palliative care programme for women receiving palliative chemotherapy for breast cancer.","authors":"Sulleh Gbande, Johanna Elizabeth Maree, Oluchukwu Loveth Obiora","doi":"10.1186/s12904-026-02176-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12904-026-02176-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with 2.3 million women newly diagnosed in 2020. In Africa, most women present with advanced disease necessitating nurse-led palliative care interventions. This study pilot tested a nurse-led palliative care programme for women receiving palliative chemotherapy for breast cancer at a teaching hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An intervention design and pre-test post-test approach was used. The primary outcome focused on unmet palliative care needs and secondary outcomes included pain, quality of life, and spiritual needs, measured by means of the Symptoms Distress Scale (SDC), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ), and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire - Breast Cancer Module 45 items (EORTC QLQ-BR45). Census sampling entered 31 women in the programme but only 24 completed it. Descriptive statistics were used to analyzed the data and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, with significance set at p ≤ 0.05, compared the medians of the two samples. The study was registered with Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR202509735988120) on September 29th, 2025.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results showed positive outcomes post-intervention. Symptom distress decreased from x̄ 2.98 to x̄ 1.97, pain severity reduced from x̄ 9.34 to x̄ 2.75, and quality of life improved from x̄ 2.79 to x̄ 1.94. Spiritual needs increased from x̄ 1.04 to x̄ 3.00.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study provided evidence that a nurse-led palliative care programme, based on the care needs of women with advanced breast cancer receiving palliative chemotherapy in the Volta Region of Ghana, lessened symptom distress, pain and improved quality of life.</p>","PeriodicalId":48945,"journal":{"name":"BMC Palliative Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13455372/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148165239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}