Family meetings for hospitalized palliative care patients: Benefits and resource implications

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Psychological distress; palliative care; Public Health - Health service research; Mental Health - Other mental health disorders

• Registration Number: ACTRN12615000200583
• Lead Sponsor: Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

Brief Summary

Not available

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Results First Posted: 1900-01-01
• Study Start: 2015-03-02
• Last Update Posted: 13 January 2020

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 210

Inclusion Criteria

Family members of hospitalised patients with advanced, non-curable disease referred to a specialist palliative care in-patient unit or palliative care consultancy service for inpatients who have been nominated by a patient as their primary support person and willing to attend a Structured Family Meeting if allocated to the intervention arm.

Exclusion Criteria

Under 18; unable to understand English; unable to provide informed consent due to cognitive impairment; or not agreeable to being considered the primary family carer. A family carer of a patient who is imminently dying (unlikely to be alive in 7 days).

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Psychological Distress measured by the General Health Questionnaire[Psychological distress 8 weeks post-bereavement]

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
nmet needs as measured by the Family Inventory of Needs (FIN)[Unmet needs 10 days after time 1 data collection (approximately two weeks after admission to palliative care)];Quality of Life (SF-12)[Quality of life 8 weeks post-bereavement]