ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Faced with rising needs for patient support, palliative care is shifting towards a more community-based approach. Yet the profile of volunteers in this field is poorly known. AIM: To explore psychosocial characteristics of palliative care volunteers, by comparing them to two groups, volunteers from the health and social sector without contact with palliative patients, and people from the general population without volunteer activity. DESIGN: Observational comparative study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. PARTICIPANTS: The 3 groups of participants were recruited in France between September 2020 and June 2021. They completed an online survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics and psychological resources (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, resilience, mindfulness, self-compassion, empathy, forgivingness, and gratitude). RESULTS: Data from 559 participants were analyzed. Palliative care volunteers had overall significantly higher levels of psychological resources than control groups. Multivariate analysis revealed, among sociodemographic and psychological characteristics that showed differences between groups at the univariate level, the most efficient predictors of group status. The best criteria to distinguish palliative care volunteers from health and social sector volunteers were older age, having received training, and lower levels of self-compassion. To distinguish palliative care volunteers from people with no volunteer activity, older age and non-active professional status were the best criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Palliative care volunteers displayed more psychological resources than controls. However, older age and being trained for volunteering, emerged as stronger factors for distinguishing palliative care volunteers from controls. Pursuing research about these volunteers should facilitate recruitment, training, and retention.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Crohn's disease is a chronic and unpredictable inflammatory bowel disease that leads to important psychosocial difficulties especially during sensitive developmental stages such as childhood and adolescence. While risk factors for mood disorders have been identified in the literature, those for quality of life and psychosocial functioning have not. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review explored the determinants of quality of life and psychosocial adjustment to pediatric Crohn's disease. METHOD: Four international databases were consulted in March 2020: PubMed, PsychInfo, PubPsych and Cochrane Library. A series of keywords were entered in each database to identify the most recent relevant studies. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-eight articles were identified, of which twenty-nine met the inclusion criteria. The majority explored the determinants of quality of life, depression and anxiety, with a few focusing on psychosocial functioning. Consistently with the literature on psychological morbidity, disease activity and parental stress were also strong predictors of quality of life and psychosocial functioning. New evidence showed that abdominal pain, negative illness perceptions and internalizing symptoms were also common predictors of these outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Some risk factors of quality of life, distress and psychosocial functioning are similar, which could indicate that some patients could be at risk of presenting an accumulation of difficulties adjusting to the disease. The identification of these risk factors is fundamental to propose appropriate interventions. Therapeutic education, therapies focused on pain management or on the parent-child relationship can be considered to allow a better adjustment or prevent difficulties.
