Clinical practice guideline for end-of-life care in patients with cancer: a modified ADAPTE process

This study seeks to adapt a guideline for end-of-life care in patients with cancer to be used by healthcare teams.

This methodological study was conducted by modifying the ADAPTE process and adding to it a qualitative study and consensus ratings by a multidisciplinary panel of experts. A qualitative study was thus performed to identify the end-of-life needs of patients with cancer. Then, the source guidelines and the results of the qualitative study were used to draft the initial version of the guideline, with 85 adaptation recommendations. A multidisciplinary panel of healthcare experts performed the external review of the recommendations based on the four criteria of relatedness, comprehensibility, usefulness, and feasibility and scored them on a scale of 1-9. The mean score of each recommendation was calculated, and the recommendations were classified into three categories: appropriate (mean score of 7-9), uncertain (mean score of 4-6.99), and inappropriate (mean score of 1-3.99).

All the recommendations were approved, as they all had a mean score of 7 or higher, and were then categorized into 11 dimensions: communication management; participatory and evidence-based decision-making management; pain management; dyspnea management; nausea and vomiting management; anorexia and cachexia management; constipation management; death rattle management; management of delirium, anxiety, and restlessness; hydration management; and pharmacological considerations.

The adaptation of the guideline for end-of-life care in patients with cancer in Iran was performed by modifying the ADAPTE process with the participation of multidisciplinary stakeholders and based on the local needs.