The oncological patient in the palliative situation

Abstract

Palliative care approaches patients and their suffering with a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model. Thus, it is the strength of palliative care to complement the diagnosis driven approach of medical cancer care by a problem and resources-based assessment, participatory care plan and person-directed interventions. Interventions need to reflect timely prognosis, target population (the patient, the family carer, the professional) and level of trust and remaining energy. In palliative care the relevance of psycho-oncological aspects in the care of the terminally ill is considerable in the understanding of the overall suffering of patients approaching death and their loved ones and in their care and support. There is little evidence to date in terms of clinical benefit of specific psycho-oncological interventions in the last months or weeks of life, but there is evidence on effects of stress reduction and reduced anxiety if locus of control can stay within the patient as long as possible. One major challenge in psychosocial and palliative care research, however, is defining patient relevant outcomes.