Fear of Palliative Care: Roles of Age and Depression Severity.
J Palliat Med
; 25(5): 768-773, 2022 05.
Article
de En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34762507
ABSTRACT
Background:
Palliative care is underutilized due in part to fear and misunderstanding, and depression might explain variation in fear of palliative care.Objective:
Informed by the socioemotional selectivity theory, we hypothesized that older adults with cancer would be less depressed than younger adults, and subsequently less fearful of utilizing palliative care. Setting/Subjects:
Patients predominately located in the United States with heterogeneous cancer diagnoses (n = 1095) completed the Patient-Reported Outcomes Information System (PROMIS) Depression scale and rated their fear of palliative care using the Palliative Care Attitudes Scale (PCAS). We examined the hypothesized intercorrelations, followed by a bootstrapped analysis of indirect effects in the PROCESS macro for SPSS.Results:
Participants ranged from 26 to 93 years old (mean [M] = 60.40, standard deviation = 11.45). The most common diagnoses were prostate (34.1%), breast (23.3%), colorectal (17.5%), skin (15.3%), and lung (13.5%) cancer. As hypothesized, older participants had lower depression severity (r = -0.20, p < 0.001) and were less fearful of palliative care (r = -0.11, p < 0.001). Participants who were more depressed were more fearful of palliative care (r = 0.21, p < 0.001). An indirect effect (ß = -0.04, standard error = .01, 95% confidence interval -0.06 to -0.02) suggested that depression severity may account for up to 40% of age-associated differences in fear of palliative care.Conclusions:
Findings indicate that older adults with cancer are more likely to favor palliative care, with depression symptom severity accounting for age-related differences. Targeted interventions among younger patients with depressive symptoms may be helpful to reduce fear and misunderstanding and increase utilization of palliative care.Mots clés
Texte intégral:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Base de données:
MEDLINE
Sujet principal:
Soins palliatifs
/
Tumeurs
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limites:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Langue:
En
Journal:
J Palliat Med
Sujet du journal:
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Année:
2022
Type de document:
Article
Pays d'affiliation:
États-Unis d'Amérique