ABSTRACT
Radiotherapy (RT) can be used to palliate cancer-related symptoms and improve quality of life (QoL). Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) could be a reliable, minimally invasive method to monitor patients after palliative radiotherapy. This review was performed to provide an overview of the way PROMs are currently used in follow-up after palliative RT, regarding the goal of the PROM, the type of PROMs, PROM selection, PROM completion as well as the follow-up schemes and patient adherence and attrition. Pubmed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for articles published between 2008 and 2020. Titles and abstracts were reviewed to find relevant studies, which were advanced to full-text review. The reference lists of review articles were screened for correctness of the search and additional studies. No meta-analysis was performed. This search strategy identified 5733 studies, with 94 ultimately selected for inclusion in this topical review. We discovered a great variety of studies that used PROMs after palliative RT. We found no articles describing PROMs in routine clinical care. PROMs were exclusively used as a benchmarking tool and never to improve symptom control or QoL for individual patients. The selection process for the questionnaires, completion method and/or follow-up scheme was seldom described. We did not find any studies referencing patients' experience on PROMs. Although clear guidelines on the use of PROMs in palliative RT may be difficult to establish, more attention should be paid to the PROM aspect when writing study protocols. Furthermore, efforts should be made to introduce PROMs in routine clinical care in the context of palliative RT.
Subject(s)
Patient Reported Outcome Measures , Quality of Life , Humans , Palliative Care , Research Design , Surveys and QuestionnairesSubject(s)
Cultural Diversity , Hospital Design and Construction , Inpatients , Humans , Patient-Centered CareABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the characteristics of residents and professional caregivers are associated with the professionals' expressed emotion (EE). METHOD: Fifty-six residents in sheltered living who suffer from schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder and their professional caregivers were enlisted. Standardised validated instruments were used to measure EE, the residents' social functioning, symptoms and social network size, and the professional caregivers' coping strategies and personality. RESULTS: There was strong evidence that high EE was associated with the residents' age, poorer social functioning and smaller network sizes. There was no significant relationship between EE and the residents' symptoms except for excitement. Concerning the professional caregivers, high EE professionals were less open than their low EE colleagues and had a lower education level. CONCLUSION: The residents' social functioning is an important correlate of the EE index.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Expressed Emotion , Professional-Patient Relations , Schizophrenia/rehabilitation , Schizophrenic Psychology , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , Aged , Analysis of Variance , Belgium , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Residential Facilities , Statistics, NonparametricABSTRACT
Expressed emotion (EE) refers to the quality of the emotional climate between a relative and a family member with a serious psychiatric disorder. Well-established, it has proven to be a reliable predictor of the relapse rate of psychiatric patients. In this article, the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI), the standard instrument, and 11 alternative EE measures will be presented and discussed with regard to their psychometric properties. It is concluded that the CFI remains the best instrument for assessing the quality of the relationship.
