Content Analysis with Counseling Cancer Patients and Their Relatives in Outpatient Hospice Office

Choi, Eun sook; Kim, Keum soon

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of the terminal cancer patients and their families concerns. I analyzed the counseling contents of terminal cancer patients and their relatives who referred to hospice office. METHOD: Data was collected from January 2004 to November 2004. During the counseling, I took notes the key points and contents. 109 patients and/or their families's counseling records were analyzed with the descriptive statistics and content analysis. RESULT: 73.4% of patients knew their current terminally ill status. The mobility of 86.2% of the patients was worse than ECOG 3 level. Patients have uncontrolled pain (28.4%), emotional distress (55.0%), and physical distress (49.5%). Caregivers of the patients were spouse (46.8%), sons and daughters (24.8%). Family members had problems to tell the bad news to their family cancer patient. 95.4% of the patient and family members was informed about the hospice and palliative care services, and 35.8% of them was referred to the hospice and palliative organizations. Frequently asked questions were 'what is hospice?', 'how much is the cost of hospice services?' etc. CONCLUSION: Care planning for terminal cancer patients must include patient. Also, professionals should consider and offer accessible, effective and empathetic counseling services to patients and families.