Table 3.
Cross-sectional comparisons of patients’ need for additional professional psychosocial and spiritual support during O-SPC vs. I-SPC
| At initiation of SPC (T0) (N = 425) |
During SPC (T1) (N = 167) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole sample (N = 425) |
O-SPC (N = 285) |
I-SPC (N = 140) |
Whole sample (N = 167) |
O-SPC (N = 125) |
I-SPC (N = 42) |
|||
| Need for additional psychosocial and spiritual support (PNPCQ-sv) | n (%) yes | n (%) yes | n (%) yes | p | n (%) yes | n (%) yes | n (%) yes | p |
| Daily activities: | ||||||||
| Body care, washing, dressing, or toilet | 121 (28.5) | 96 (34.7) | 25 (18.0) | <.001 a | 19 (12.0) | 13 (11.0) | 6 (15.0) | .503 a |
| Transportation | 172 (40.5) | 121 (45.0) | 51 (38.6) | .228 a | 35 (24.0) | 23 (21.5) | 12 (30.8) | .245 a |
| Doing light housework | 163 (38.4) | 120 (45.1) | 43 (32.8) | .019 a | 29 (19.9) | 20 (18.0) | 9 (25.7) | .320 a |
| Autonomy: | ||||||||
| Difficulties in continuing the usual activities | 150 (35.2) | 99 (37.8) | 51 (38.1) | .958 a | 28 (19.6) | 17 (16.2) | 11 (28.9) | .089 a |
| Difficulty to give tasks out of hands | 85 (20.0) | 60 (22.0) | 25 (18.8) | .460 a | 12 (8.0) | 6 (5.5) | 6 (15.0) | .057 a |
| Being dependent of others | 123 (28.9) | 85 (31.3) | 38 (28.6) | .582 a | 28 (19.7) | 18 (17.4) | 10 (26.3) | .232 a |
| Experiencing loss of control over one’s life | 114 (26.8) | 78 (28.5) | 36 (26.9) | .735 a | 14 (9.7) | 8 (7.6) | 6 (15.4) | .162 a |
| Social issues: | ||||||||
| Problems in the relationship with life companion | 38 (8.9) | 29 (10.4) | 9 (6.6) | .207 a | 1 (0.6) | 1 (0.8) | 0 (0) | 1.000 b |
| Difficulties in talking about the disease with life companion | 59 (13.9) | 46 (19.0) | 13 (10.9) | .051 a | 2 (1.3) | 1 (0.8) | 1 (2.4) | .448 b |
| Finding it difficult to talk about the disease, because of not wanting to burden others | 96 (22.6) | 72 (30.0) | 24 (19.5) | .032 a | 7 (4.6) | 3 (2.7) | 4 (9.8) | .083 b |
| Finding others not receptive to talking about the disease | 54 (12.7) | 43 (17.9) | 11 (9.3) | .033 a | 4 (2.6) | 2 (1.8) | 2 (5.0) | .280 b |
| Difficulties in finding someone to talk to | 78 (18.4) | 54 (22.4) | 24 (20.3) | .655 a | 3 (1.9) | 1 (0.9) | 2 (4.9) | .173 b |
| Psychological issues: | ||||||||
| Depressed mood | 75 (17.6) | 57 (23.2) | 18 (15.1) | .075 a | 5 (3.2) | 4 (3.5) | 1 (2.4) | 1.000 b |
| Difficulty coping with the unpredictability of the future | 127 (29.9) | 88 (35.8) | 39 (30.5) | .304 a | 20 (13.2) | 12 (10.7) | 8 (20.5) | .120 |
| Difficulties to show emotions | 65 (15.3) | 47 (19.3) | 18 (14.0) | .199 a | 7 (4.5) | 4 (3.4) | 3 (7.3) | .378 b |
| Spiritual issues: | ||||||||
| Difficulties to be engaged usefully | 78 (18.4) | 59 (24.6) | 19 (15.6) | .049 a | 13 (9.0) | 10 (9.3) | 3 (8.1) | 1.000 b |
| Difficulties to be of avail of others | 85 (20.0) | 66 (28.0) | 19 (15.6) | .009 a | 17 (11.8) | 10 (9.3) | 7 (19.4) | .101 a |
| Difficulties concerning the meaning of death | 94 (22.1) | 72 (30.4) | 22 (18.6) | .018 a | 16 (10.3) | 10 (8.7) | 6 (15.0) | .259 a |
| Difficulties to accept the disease | 105 (24.7) | 88 (36.5) | 17 (14.4) | <.001 a | 15 (9.9) | 8 (7.0) | 7 (18.9) | .034 a |
| Financial problems: | ||||||||
| Extra expenditures because of the disease | 66 (15.5) | 48 (21.0) | 18 (14.8) | .156 a | 9 (5.8) | 5 (4.3) | 4 (10.5) | .225 b |
| Loss of income because of the disease | 41 (9.6) | 28 (12.1) | 13 (10.8) | .732 a | 9 (5.8) | 6 (5.1) | 3 (7.9) | .690 b |
| Need of information: | ||||||||
| Insufficient information, e.g. about the disease and its treatment, aids and agencies that can provide help, alternative healing methods. | 116 (27.3) | 90 (38.5) | 26 (21.5) | .001 a | 15 (9.6) | 9 (7.6) | 6 (15.8) | .133 |
| Score “Extent of need for additional professional support” (0–22) M (SD) | 6.4 (6.5) | 4.2 (4.1) | <.001 c | 1.7 (2.9) | 3.2 (4.0) | .038 c | ||
Significant group differences are marked in bold
Abbreviations: SPC specialist palliative care; pts., patients, O-SOC outpatient specialist palliative care, I-SPC inpatient specialist palliative care, PNPCQ-sv Problems and Needs in Palliative Care Questionnaire – Short Version
a Chi2-Test; b Fisher’s Exact Test; c T-test (two-tailed); d Higher scores reflect a greater number of needs for which additional professional psychosocial and spiritual support was indicated