Holistic care in a cancer care center

Emotional moods and subjective evaluations of care received by three groups of terminally ill cancer patients were measured one week after hospital discharge. Patients treated in a newly opened Cancer Care Center, organized to provide holistic care, formed the treatment group (N = 52). Patients treated before the Center opened comprised one comparison group (N = 67), and patients admitted after the Center opened but treated on other units made up the second comparison group (N = 53). Center patients and their relatives evaluated care in significantly more positive terms than patients in either comparison group. Emotional mood was not significantly different across units; however, women reported more positive moods than men.