The Total Enjoyment of Life: A Framework for Exploring and Supporting the Positive in Palliative Care

The World Health Organization defines palliative care by its focus on improving quality of life (QOL). Although reducing suffering is part of improving QOL, it should not be the sole focus of our efforts. Opportunities for joy, meaning, love, and growth exist in the midst of serious illness and should be explored and supported even in the face of suffering. Intentionally focusing on these outcomes expands provider's toolset for improving QOL, creates opportunities to better understand, celebrate, and support the full humanity of the person in front of us, and may increase the satisfaction of practice for clinicians. The "Total Enjoyment of Life" provides a framework for reminding clinicians to systematically address positive outcomes. This framework can also be used to suggest clinical strategies for promoting positive outcomes and expanding the scope of interventions and outcomes to be considered in clinical research.