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      Humour Workshops for Staff Working in Palliative Care

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          Abstract

          Palliative care teams frequently use humour as a coping instrument. Humour used within the professional team has to be distinguished from humour in the interaction with patients. Humour among staff members working in palliative settings is widely accepted and the positive effect has been demonstrated. Four humour-workshops were organized for staff working in a palliative care unit. All participants completed the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory (STCI-S and T) and the Distress-Thermometer. Before and after the last two workshops, saliva samples were collected for analysis of oxytocin concentrations. The humour workshops were performed by two coaches based on a concept for the use of humour and mindfulness in the nursing routine. Overall 31 staff members out of 37 participated. Representatives of all professions were included, 28 women, 3 men, 24 to 59 years old. Saliva samples demonstrated a small but not significant oxytocin increase from a mean of 1.52 pg/ml to 1.80 pg/ml after the intervention ( p .26). The mean p value of distress was reduced from 5.24 to 3.90 with an effect of p = .05 and bad mood was reduced from 11.19 to 9.43 ( p = .36), seriousness decreased from 15.06 to 12.26 ( p .01) and cheerfulness changed from 16.33 to 19.03 ( p = .02). Despite the small sample size, the reduction of distress and seriousness and the increase of cheerfulness was significant. The changes in Oxytocin and bad mood proved to not be significant. Feedback from participants confirmed the value of humour in palliative care.

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          The Satisfaction With Life Scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction

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            Die deutsche Version des NCCN Distress-Thermometers

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              Understanding breathlessness: cross-sectional comparison of symptom burden and palliative care needs in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer.

              Little is known about symptom burden and palliative care needs of breathless patients with advanced cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aimed to describe and compare symptoms and needs in these two groups in relation to survival. Cross-sectional study of breathless patients with COPD III/IV or advanced cancer. Data were collected in an interview using the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale short form (MSAS-SF), the modified Borg Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Palliative Care Outcome Scale (POS). Follow-up information was collected on survival. Forty-nine patients with cancer and 60 patients with COPD were recruited. Both groups had similar demographics and a similar high symptom burden: median number of 14 symptoms; most prevalent symptoms in both groups besides breathlessness were drowsiness, lack of energy, cough; median global symptom distress on MSAS-Global Distress Index MSAS-GDI 1.6 in cancer and 1.4 in COPD. HADS depression scores were higher than HADS anxiety scores. Palliative care needs were also similar in both groups. Median survival was 107 days in patients with cancer and 589 days in patients with COPD. Symptom burden and palliative care needs of breathless patients with severe COPD are considerable and as high as among patients with advanced primary and secondary lung cancer although patients with COPD have a longer survival.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
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                Journal
                International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology
                Int J Appl Posit Psychol
                Springer Science and Business Media LLC
                2364-5040
                2364-5059
                May 04 2022
                Article
                10.1007/s41042-022-00063-5
                65a547c4-bd36-4c0f-a4ff-9f1556d0f4dd
                © 2022

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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