Abstract 1465P
Background
Diagnosing chronic or life-threatening illnesses can lead to spiritual struggles for patients and their caregivers. The aim of this study is to determine the spiritual needs of palliative care patients and their caregivers.
Methods
The study is a qualitative study conducted with patients and their caregivers in the palliative care unit of a foundation hospital in Ankara. A semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with six patients and six caregivers; will continue until reaching data saturation. These questions are about patients’ issues and challenges with their health, strategies of dealing with challenges, valuable things in their life and change in belief during illness. Similarly, four semi-structured questions are asked to obtain caregivers’ data. Questions are about challenges as a caregiver, strategies of dealing with challenges, valuable things in their life and changes in their belief as a caregiver. Individual in-depth interviews are conducted by two instructors and the average interview duration is 40-60 minutes. Six patients have been interviewed so far.
Results
The average age of the patients is 68 and two of them are married. Three patients had cancer (ovarian cancers and skin cancer), two patients had end-stage renal disease, and one patient had a spinal cord injury. Duration of the diseases were between 2 and 10 years. The average age of the caregivers who have participated in the study is 45; three were married and five were relatives of the patients (spouse, daughters, son and sister). In analyzing the data of the patients, three main and two sub-themes were determined. These themes were; “Functional Insufficiency”; “Transcendence and Family-Friends” and “Acceptance”. Two sub-themes of functional disability theme have emerged as ‘Pain’ and ‘being dependent’. In analyzing the data of caregivers; five main themes were determined. These main themes were “Physical Problems related with caregiving burden”, “Economic Problems”, “Lack of Information”; “God” and “Glory of Caring”.
Conclusions
The preliminary results of this qualitative study show that spiritual values are indispensable for the patients and caregivers, and they perceive support from god, family, and friends even in the most difficult times.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
G. Turgay.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.