Exploring Palliative Care Needs Among Patients With Cancer and Non-Cancer Serious Chronic Diseases: A Comparison Study.

BACKGROUND: Palliative care (PC) is integral to improving the quality of life and mitigating suffering for individuals with serious illnesses. This interdisciplinary-led study aims to comprehensively evaluate the prevalence of distressing problems and unmet needs among both cancer and non-cancer chronic disease patients and explore their need for PC. METHODS: A cross-sectional, comparative, and multicenter design was conducted, involving 458 patients from eight hospitals, utilizing a self-reported Problems and Needs in Palliative Care-sv questionnaire. RESULTS: The study included 276 (60.3%) patients with cancer and 182 (39.7%) with non-cancer chronic diseases. Most were 45-64 years old (n = 216, 47.2%). Patients with cancer reported a higher prevalence of physical symptoms, notably pain (n = 240, 87%) and anorexia (n = 192, 69.6%), while non-cancer patients faced more social challenges, including issues in companion relationships (n = 77, 42.3%) and discussing their disease with life companion (n = 78, 42.9%). Unmet needs were prevalent in both groups, with cancer patients having an average of 75.6% (n = 120) unmet needs, predominantly in the information (n = 145, 91.75%) and spiritual domains (n = 123, 77.8%). Non-cancer patients emphasized financial (n = 71, 66.6%) and autonomy (n = 59, 55.0%) problems. Moreover, patients in both groups with severe Charlson Comorbidity Index scores demonstrated significantly higher PC needs across all health domains. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the universal demand for comprehensive PC for patients with both cancer and non-cancer chronic diseases. The findings underscore the need for enhanced PC provision, especially for patients with multiple comorbidities. Further research is needed to comprehensively address psychological, social, and spiritual problems in both patient groups.

Osteoporosis education: Evaluation of an awareness program among female university students.

INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis is a major worldwide health problem represented through decreased bone density. Females at younger ages should be the target for all efforts fighting against this disease aiming toward raising their awareness and promoting healthy behaviours. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of an osteoporosis educational program in promoting female Jordanian university students' knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy regarding osteoporosis. METHOD: The design of the research was a randomized control using a one-day educational program as the intervention. Two times of measurement were conducted (before and four weeks after the educational program) to measure participants' knowledge regarding osteoporosis, attitudes and self-efficacy toward osteoporosis. RESULTS: A total of 184 female university students participated in this study randomly assigned to interventional (n=112, 60.9%) and control groups (n=72, 39.1%). Before attending the educational program, participants in both groups were found to have relatively low level of knowledge, negative attitudes, and poor self-efficacy toward osteoporosis. Results of the post test indicated that participants who attended the program had significant improvement in all study variables compared to those who did not. CONCLUSION: Conducting an osteoporosis education program had positive effects on the female Jordanian university students' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy. Our results support the importance of conducting awareness programs for this population and confirms the need to include an osteoporosis educational program in university curricula.

Perceived Exercise Self-Efficacy, Benefits and Barriers, and Commitment to a Plan for Exercise among Jordanians with Chronic Illnesses.

PURPOSE: To explore Jordanian chronic illnesses patients' perceived exercise self-efficacy, benefits and barriers, and commitment to exercise planning, and to assess the relationship between those variables. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional design. METHODS: Data were collected from a convenience sample of 402 outpatient Jordanians with chronic illnesses, using Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale, Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale, and Commitment to a Plan for Exercise Scale. FINDINGS: The average BMI was 28.3, and exercise period 3.2 hours/ week. Participants reported moderate perceived self-efficacy (M= 47.5%, SD= 11.7), commitment to exercise planning (M=2.0/3, SD=0.3), exercise barriers (M=2.4/4, SD=0.3), and benefits (M=2.3/4, SD=0.3). Commitment to exercise planning had a significant correlation with barriers (r=0.11) and benefits (r=0.10). Self-efficacy was not found to correlate with other variables. CONCLUSIONS: Even though participants reported higher perceived self-efficacy and commitment to exercise plan than that reported in literature, they were found to be overweight and inactive, which indicates the importance of such study. Exercise education programs are needed taking into considerations patients' individual differences. However, the broad grouping of diseases may not produce a homogenous sample, for which disease categories are recommended in future studies. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Patients with chronic illness need more encouragement to engage themselves in exercise practices. Exercise educational program for patients with chronic illnesses should consider patients' reported exercise benefits and barriers.