Bovero Andrea, Di Girolamo Irene, Botto Rossana, Geminiani Giuliano Carlo
Department of Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology Unit, University of Turin, "Città della Salute e della Scienza" Hospital, Turin, Italy.
Palliat Support Care. 2024 Oct;22(5):1347-1352. doi: 10.1017/S1478951524000956.
Compassion is essential in palliative care; however, there is a lack of evidence of the association between this construct and patients' dignity-related distress. The present study aimed to investigate the association between end-of-life cancer patients' sense of dignity, the level of compassion of the healthcare professionals (HCPs) noticed and perceived by the patients, and levels of compassion that HCPs felt they had toward patients, investigating through specific attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, the relationship between compassion and patients' physical and psychological symptoms, such as levels of anxiety and depression, was also investigated.
The study was cross-sectional. The sample consisted of 105 end-of-life cancer patients and 40 HCPs. Patients had a Karnofsky Performance Status of 50 or lower and a life expectancy of less than 4 months. For each patient, sociodemographic data were collected, and a set of rating scales assessing compassion, dignity as well as physical and psychological symptoms were administered.
The results showed significant negative associations between patients' perception of compassion and dignity-related distress as well as significant negative associations between patients' perception of compassion and patients' symptoms.
Compassion seems to be involved in diminishing dignity-related distress and alleviating physical and psychological symptoms. Other studies are needed to understand whether patients' symptoms or whether specific HCPs' conditions influence compassion. Exploring compassion and at the end-of-life could encourage a dignity-conserving care.
同情在姑息治疗中至关重要；然而，缺乏关于这种观念与患者尊严相关痛苦之间关联的证据。本研究旨在调查临终癌症患者的尊严感、患者所注意到并感知到的医护人员（HCPs）的同情水平以及HCPs自认为对患者的同情水平之间的关联，并通过特定的态度和行为进行调查。此外，还研究了同情与患者身体和心理症状（如焦虑和抑郁水平）之间的关系。
本研究为横断面研究。样本包括105名临终癌症患者和40名医护人员。患者的卡氏功能状态评分为50或更低，预期寿命少于4个月。为每位患者收集社会人口学数据，并使用一组评估同情、尊严以及身体和心理症状的评定量表。
结果显示，患者对同情的感知与尊严相关痛苦之间存在显著负相关，患者对同情的感知与患者症状之间也存在显著负相关。
同情似乎与减轻尊严相关痛苦以及缓解身体和心理症状有关。需要进一步的研究来了解患者的症状或特定医护人员的状况是否会影响同情。探索临终关怀中的同情可能会促进维护尊严的护理。
