Spiritual well-being correlates with quality of life of both cancer and non-cancer patients in palliative care - further validation of EORTC QLQ-SWB32 in Finnish.

BACKGROUND: The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) has developed the Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-SWB32), a measure of spiritual well-being validated with people receiving palliative care for cancer, although its usefulness is not restricted to that population. We aimed to translate and validate this tool in Finnish and to study the relationship between spiritual well-being (SWB) and quality of life (QOL). METHODS: A Finnish translation was produced according to the guidelines of EORTC and included forward- and back-translations. Face, content, construct and convergence/divergence validity and reliability were studied in a prospective manner. QOL was assessed with EORTC QLQ-C30 and 15D questionnaires. Sixteen individuals participated in the pilot testing. 101 cancer patients drawn from oncology units, and 89 patients with other chronic diseases drawn from religious communities in different parts of the country participated in the validation stage. Retest was obtained from 16 individuals (8 cancer and 8 non-cancer patients). Inclusion criteria included patients with either a well-defined palliative care plan, or who would benefit from palliative care, as well as the capacity to understand and communicate in Finnish. RESULTS: The translation appeared understandable and acceptable. Factorial analysis identified four scoring scales with high Cronbach alfa values: Relationship with Self (0.73), Relationship with Others (0.84), Relationship with Something Greater (0.82), Existential (0.81), and, additionally, a scale on Relationship with God (0.85). There was a significant correlation between SWB and QOL in all participants. CONCLUSIONS: The Finnish translation of EORTC QLQ-SWB32 is a valid and reliable measure both for research and clinical practice. SWB is correlated with QOL in cancer and non-cancer patients undergoing palliative care or who are eligible for it.

Influences of COVID-19 pandemic on hospital-at-home functions in Finland - a questionnaire survey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate functions of Finnish hospital-at-home (HAH) during the first year of COVID19-pandemic 2020 compared with the previous year 2019. DESIGN: Retrospective questionnaire survey. SETTING: Finnish HAHs from Northern, Eastern, Southern, Western and Central parts of Finland participated in a questionnaire web-based questionnaire survey. The numbers of patients, activities and staff in 2019 and 2020, participation in the care of COVID19 patients, availability of protective clothing, attitudes of patients towards home care and development of new practices in the corona era were asked using both predefined and free questions. SUBJECTS: questionnaire was sent to the nurses and physicians in charge of the HAHs (N = 13), 77% responded. The HAHs provided services to a total of 1,196,783 inhabitants in their municipalities. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in the numbers of patients, staff or activities between the years 2019 and 2020. Although nurses did viral tests, COVID19 patients were cared only in 40% of HAHs. Protective clothing was well available. New instructions for infection management were created. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic did not largely influence the functions of the examined Finnish HAHs in 2020. Most activities and patients' characteristics remained unchanged from 2019. The role of HAHs should be further developed in Scandinavian countries, particularly during pandemics.Key PointsHospital-at-home (HAH) is a cost-effective model to provide hospital-like services.Data about the role of HAHs during COVID19 pandemics is lacking in the Nordic countries.This study shows that, the large Finnish municipal HAHs have been not influenced by pandemics.