Effectiveness of using clinical guidelines for conducting palliative care family meetings in Japan
Menée au Japon auprès de 15 soignants, cette étude analyse l'intérêt de développer et de mettre en oeuvre des recommandations cliniques relatives aux entretiens et à la communication avec les familles de patients dans le cadre des soins palliatifs
Purpose The purpose of this study is to pilot test the effectiveness of using recently developed clinical guidelines from Australia for conducting palliative care family meetings in Japan. Methods Palliative care family meetings were conducted using clinical guidelines with 15 primary family carers of cancer patients who were admitted to an acute care hospital in Japan. Using the pre-family meeting questionnaire, the primary carers were asked to write key concerns to discuss during the family meetings and rate their concerns via a numerical rating scale: how upset/worried they were about the problem, frequency in which problem occurs, life interference with the problem, and the confidence to deal with the problem. Within 3 days after the meeting, the primary carers were asked to complete the post-meeting questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of the family meeting. Results There was a significant improvement in family carers’ psychological well-being in the post-meeting questionnaires compared to the pre-meeting questionnaires as follows: how upset/worried they were about the problem, t (14) = 3.1071, p < 0.000011; frequency in which problem occurs, t (14) = 3.2857, p < 0.000013; life interference with the problem, t (14) = 2.7857, p < 0.000008; and the confidence to deal with the problem, t (13) = −2.3007, p < 0.005480. Conclusions In accordance with the study aims, we were able to demonstrate the utility of a questionnaire as an essential tool to plan and conduct effective communication between health professionals and primary family carers in Japanese cancer patients. This pilot test should be followed up with a larger sample and a controlled trial.