Comfort experience in palliative care: a phenomenological study.

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care Medicine
• Patient Experience Research
• Qualitative Health Research

Background:

• Palliative care focuses on patient comfort, but factors influencing this experience remain unclear.
• Understanding patient perspectives is crucial for developing effective comfort interventions.
• This study addresses the gap in knowledge regarding comfort and discomfort in palliative care inpatients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the lived experience of comfort and discomfort among inpatients in palliative care units.
• To identify factors that facilitate or hinder the experience of comfort.
• To inform the development of patient-centered comfort interventions.

Main Methods:

• Phenomenological descriptive study design.
• Individual interviews conducted with 17 palliative care inpatients (10 Spanish, 7 Portuguese).
• Data analyzed using Giorgi's phenomenological method.

Main Results:

• Four core themes emerged: palliative care as a response to advanced disease needs, attempts to naturalize advanced disease, confronting vulnerability, and spiritual openness.
• Comfort is experienced through humanized care, distinct environments, symptom control, hope, and relationships.
• Discomfort stems from losses and feelings of powerlessness.

Conclusions:

• Patient comfort in palliative care is multifaceted, influenced by care quality, environment, symptom management, hope, and social connections.
• Addressing patient-perceived discomfort requires acknowledging losses and powerlessness.
• Findings underscore the importance of reflecting on and refining comfort interventions based on patient experiences.