Factors Associated with Difficulties Faced by Ward Nurses When Providing Support to Families of Patients with Advanced Cancer in Surrogate Decision-making
- VernacularTitle:進行がん患者家族の代理意思決定における病棟看護師の支援とその困難経験頻度に関連する要因
- Author:
Toshiki IREI
1
;
Yasutaka KIMURA
2
Author Information
- Keywords: patient with advanced cancer; family; surrogate decision-making; support; difficult
- From:Palliative Care Research 2023;18(1):31-41
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
- Abstract: This study aimed to describe the types of support that ward nurses provide to families of patients with advanced cancer in surrogate decision-making and the factors associated with the difficulties these nurses experienced . An anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among 285 nurses practicing in the cancer wards of four facilities. In total, 230 (80.7%) nurses provided support in surrogate decision-making, such as attending discussions. Additionally, 41 (17.8%) of the respondents often experienced difficulties performing this task. Results of a binary logistic regression analysis showed that the factors associated with the nurses’ recognition of difficulties were frequency of surrogate decision-making support requirements (OR=2.41, P=0.009) and incomprehension of the relationships between patients and their families (OR=2.41, P=0.009). To promote nurses’ support in surrogate decision-making, we suggest routinely collecting information on the relationships between patients and their families.
