• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.223-231
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand terminal cancer patient's experiences of home-based hospice care. Methods: The data were collected from July 2011 through September 2010. Data were collected from 10 terminal cancer patients who received home-based hospice care services and by using in-depth interview. The data were analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Results: Data were classified by 25 themes comprising 14 theme clusters and five categories. The five categories were 'life quality deterioration', 'appreciation', 'acceptance of the rest of their lives', 'Prepared for death with religion', 'negative coping'. Conclusion: Systematic hospice care should be provided to understand life experience of patients with terminal cancer who receive home-based hospice care, to help them overcome negative experiences and grow a positive perspective.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.122-133
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• 2014

Purpose: We conducted a descriptive correlational study to determine a relationship between nurses' awareness of good death and attitudes toward terminal care, which in turn could be used as basic data for improvement of the quality of terminal care at geriatric hospitals. Methods: From April 3, 2013 through April 22, 2013, data were collected from 230 nurses working at geriatric hospitals. Results: Nurses' attitudes toward terminal care showed no significant correlation with awareness of good death, but it was positively correlated with a sense of closeness, a subfactor of awareness of good death. There was negative correlation between emotions regarding a deathbed, a subfactor of attitudes of nurses in charge of terminal patients, and awareness of good death. We found positive correlation between terminal care performance and awareness of good death. Conclusion: This study warrants the need for nursing education catered to characteristics of geriatric hospitals and development of diverse intervention strategies to help them to attain a positive attitude toward death by familiarizing themselves with the concept of good death and enhancing job satisfaction.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to compare medical cost of hospice care and that of conventional care during the last year of life, and identify factors that influenced the cost. From January to August 2003 592 terminal cancer patients receiving care from 5 hospice care units and 2 hospice care teams in general hospitals were enrolled to case group. Two hundreds and seventy two terminal cancer patients receiving conventional care from 7 general hospitals were enrolled to hospital-based control group, and 1,636 terminal cancer patients from 122 general hospitals located in same regions with the 7 hospitals were enrolled to community-based control. We used characteristics and medical cost from data of National Health Insurance Cooperation. Total medical cost per beneficiary in cases was about 10 millions won, 14.5 millions in hospital-based controls and 11.1 millions in community-based controls. The hospice care saved $45\%$ over the last year of life compared with hospital-based controls (p<0.0001). Saving of inpatient cost account for approximately $80\%$ of saving per beneficiary. Hospice care saved $29\%$ of medical cost per hospitalization day compared with hospital­based controls and $17\%$ compared with community-based controls (p<0.0001). Multiple regression analyses showed that hospice care significantly saved the medical cost. This study suggest that hospice care save medical cost compared with hospital-based control and community-based control. Most of saving of inpatient cost account for approximately $80\%$ of saving of medical cost.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2006

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.1430-1440
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify relationships between the awareness of well-dying, advance directives knowledge and attitude, according to patient's terminal care experience among nursing students. Participants were 321 nursing students, selected from 3 universities located in Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheong-do, Jeolla-do and data were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 25.0 program, with descriptive statistics x²-test, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe' test, Pearson's correlation coefficient. There was a significant difference in advance directives attitude among nursing students with experience of patient's terminal care or no experience of patient's terminal care (t=3.011, p<.003). In addition, the awareness of well-dying (r=.194, p=.008) and advance directives knowledge (r=.201, p=.006) were positively correlated with advance directives attitude in nursing students with experience of patient's terminal care, whereas advance directives attitude was positively correlated with the awareness of well-dying (r=.189, p=.029) in nursing students with no experience of patient's terminal care. This study suggests that there is a need for the development of systematic education programs to improve a positive attitude toward advance directives and awareness of well-dying of nursing college students.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of aroma foot baths on stress and sleep in terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We performed a non-randomized intervention-control study with 30 terminal cancer patients who were admitted to a palliative care unit. Participants responded to questionnaires on stress and sleep before and after a 5-day interval. The intervention group received a daily aroma foot bath for 5 days. We performed multivariate regression analysis to examine the changes in outcomes on stress and sleep for the intervention group compared to the control group. Results: The differences in baseline characteristics between groups, excluding subjective economic status and general weakness, did not show statistical significance. In contrast to the control group, the intervention group showed a statistically significant change in physical stress and psychological stress levels, but significant changes were not observed in quality of sleep. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in physical stress (P=0.068) and psychological stress (P=0.021). Conclusion: Aroma foot baths are effective for reducing stress in patients hospitalized with terminal cancer.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.473-481
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was done to examine the effects of oral care with essential oil in improving the oral health status of hospice patients with terminal cancer. Methods: The participants were 43 patients with terminal cancer admitted to K hospital in G city, Korea. Twenty-two patients were assigned to the experimental group and 21 to the control group. Participants in the experimental group received special mouth care with essential oil (application of essential oil mixture consisting of geranium, lavender, tea tree, and peppermint). The control group received special mouth care with 0.9% saline. The special mouth care was performed twice daily for one week in both groups. The scores for subjective oral comfortness, objective oral state, and numbers of colonizing Candida albicans were measured before and after the treatment. Results: The score for subjective oral comfortness and objective oral state were significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. The numbers of colonizing Candida albicans significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Oral care with essential oil could be an effective oral health nursing intervention for hospice patients with terminal cancer.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.217-224
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to investigate the effects of pilocarpine mouth care on the condition and discomfort of the oral cavity in patients with terminal cancer. Method: A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group, pre- and post-test was used. The participants were 30 patients admitted to the hospice care unit of C university hospital. Fourteen patients received pilocarpine mouth care for 5 days. The other sixteen received general mouth care. Results: Improvement in the condition of the oral cavity was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. Decrease in oral discomfort scores was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. The incidence of oral candidiasis was significantly higher in the control group compared to the experimental group. Conclusion: These findings indicate that pilocarpine mouth care could be an effective intervention for relieving oral discomfort, improving the condition of the oral cavity, and decreasing the incidence of oral candidiasis in patients with terminal cancer.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.103-114
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of QoL of the terminal cancer patients at home and to identify any influencing factors on QoL. Method: Subjects of this study consisted of 72 terminal cancer patients who were receiving home care nursing for more than 2 weeks in 6 general hospitals. Data were collected by a self-reporting questionnaire on QoL, pain, physical functioning, and symptom experience from Feb, 2006 to Dec, 2006. Data were analyzed by t-test, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression using SPSS Win 14.0. Results: Mean score of QoL was 98.6(230 in total). Except the level of family coping, general characteristics and disease related variables did not show significant difference in QoL. QoL was higher in the family with better coping, and QoL showed negative correlation with three types of pain, physical functioning, and symptom experiences. Least pain, physical functioning, and level of family coping explained QoL up to 26.7%. Conclusion: The QoL was closely related with pain, physical functioning, symptom experience, and family coping. And the least pain, physical functioning and level of family coping were important factors influencing on QoL of terminal cancer patients. However, some other variables influencing the QoL need to be investigated in the future.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.55-70
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine differences in Spiritual Interests Related to Illness Tool (SpIRIT) scores and the degree of spiritual needs (SNs) between patients with terminal cancer and their primary family caregivers and to compare spiritual needs between them. Methods: The study participants were inpatients with terminal cancer and their primary family caregivers at 40 national hospice centers. The final analysis included 120 SpIRIT surveys from patients and 115 from family members, and 99 SNs questionnaires from patients and 111 from family members. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, the t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: There were no significant between-group differences in SpIRIT scores or SNs. The SpIRIT sub-dimensions that ranked high for both patients and primary family caregivers were "maintaining positive perspective", "loving others", and "finding meaning". The SNs sub-dimensions were ranked identically in both groups, in the order of "love and connection", "hope and peace", "meaning and purpose", respectively. In both groups, the recognition of the importance of spiritual matters and religion were major factors influencing SpIRIT scores and SNs. Conclusion: The SpIRIT scores and degree of SNs of patients with terminal cancer and their primary family caregivers were found to be very closely related, and the needs for coherence and meaning were greater than religious needs. When providing spiritual care for patients with terminal illness, family members should also be considered, and their prioritization of spiritual needs and the importance of spiritual matters and religion shall be taken into account.