Palliative care is incredibly important in helping people live their life as fully and comfortably as possible, when living with a life-limiting or terminal illness.
Yet it is understandable that 29 to 40 per cent of palliative care patients experience significant levels of stress which greatly impacts their quality of life.
To address this, researchers from The University of Queensland’s School of Psychology conducted a pilot study aimed at improving mental health wellbeing for palliative care patients, through a self-help intervention.
About the study
The pilot study evaluated the feasibility of a four-week self-help acceptance and commitment therapy intervention, aimed at improving death attitudes, distress, pain and quality of life.
Emeritus Professor Kenneth Pakenham said acceptance and the acknowledgement of death is an important coping mechanism that is integral to quality of life for palliative care patients.
“Research has found a higher acceptance of death has been found to positively impact physical functioning, hope for a meaningful life, lower psychology morbidity, anticipatory grief and avoidance,” Professor Pakenham said.
“This is why access to interventions that enhance wellbeing and quality of life for this cohort are essential.
“We developed the Full Palliative Living program, which involves a self-help workbook consisting of four modules that include strategies focused on improving the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of participants.”
The modules provide lessons around psychoeducation, experiential exercises, metaphors and self-reflections.
Participants had a weekly phone call from a palliative care psychologist who would assist them with completing the workbook tasks while tracking the participants' progress.
What were the results?
To evaluate the study, researchers compared a group of 52 palliative care patients who had participated in the program, with 54 patients who had not.
Dr Christopher Martin said the results indicated the Full Palliative Living program positively impacted the wellbeing of participants.
“After completing the program, the participants demonstrated significant reductions in depression, anxiety and total distress,” Dr Martin said.
“Overall, the findings show the Full Palliative Care Living program could be beneficial as a first-line, low intensity intervention within palliative care.
“Given the limited access to mental health clinicians within palliative care settings, a self-help resource like this program, can aid teams in providing effective psychosocial support and ultimately improve access to a holistic care approach.”
Evaluation of the intervention was conducted at the Specialist Palliative Care Service, Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
The intervention continues to be offered in this service, and researchers are currently in discussion with other palliative care services in Australia regarding application of the intervention.
The research is published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.
