The Effectiveness of Dignity Therapy in Terminal Ill Patients

Maintaining patient dignity is the moral obligation and an important ethical consideration of health professionals; it is also the primary connotation of medical care. Previous research revealed that terminal patients had moderate to severe dignity loss, and approximately 40% of them suffered from dignity-related distress, which required assistance from health professionals. This is a second- and third-year study project. The first-year study established and developed the localized "Terminal Patient Dignity Model" and "Terminal Patient Dignity Scale" for Taiwan. At present, the reliability and validity of the scale are being continuously tested. The second-year study adopts a longitudinal study design. The dignity therapy is referred for intervention. It adopts the randomized controlled experimental study method. Patients with terminal illness in a medical center will be randomly assigned to two groups, and each group is expected to have 34 patients. The experimental group will be provided with dignity therapy, whereas hospice palliative care will be adopted for the control group. Dignity, demoralization, depression, and other indicators will be measured in the pretest, immediately after the intervention, at 1 month and 3 months. In the third year, the study project will continue the intervention scheme and track the results of dignity, demoralization, depression, and other indicators at 6 and 9 months after the intervention. This study can help understand the status of dignity among terminal patients in Taiwan, and extend the terminal patient dignity scale and dignity therapy to noncancer terminal patients, in order to provide appropriate care to maintain dignity. It is also expected to provide a reference for the government to formulate empirical care policies on dignity therapy.