Hope as moral accompaniment: a framework for palliative care practice.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Palliative Care
• Positive Psychology

Background:

• Hope is crucial for patients facing illness, regulating emotions, fostering resilience, and maintaining life's meaning.
• While its benefits are known, few interventions actively cultivate hope for psycho-physical therapeutic effects.
• Positive psychology offers models like Snyder's, defining hope as agency and pathways thinking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To illustrate the role of hope as a virtue in the illness experience.
• To argue for the broader application of hope therapy in palliative care to enhance patient quality of life and psychosocial well-being.
• To examine the theoretical and practical aspects of Snyder's hope-based intervention for palliative care.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on hope, positive psychology, and palliative care.
• Analysis of Snyder's hope model (agency and pathways thinking).
• Exploration of the application of hope therapy within the context of palliative care and compassionate accompaniment.

Main Results:

• Hope therapy shows effectiveness in chronic illness, particularly in reorganizing goals and activities.
• Fostering hope in palliative care can significantly enhance patients' quality of life and psychosocial well-being.
• Cultivating hope through professional education can strengthen compassionate care and patient resilience.

Conclusions:

• Hope is a central element in palliative care, sustaining meaning, purpose, and dignity.
• Broader implementation of hope therapy in palliative care is recommended.
• Strengthening patients' character through hope fosters well-being, reflecting a shared civic responsibility in healthcare.