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Effectiveness of using clinical guidelines for conducting palliative care family meetings in Japan

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to pilot test the effectiveness of using recently developed clinical guidelines from Australia for conducting palliative care family meetings in Japan.

Methods

Palliative care family meetings were conducted using clinical guidelines with 15 primary family carers of cancer patients who were admitted to an acute care hospital in Japan. Using the pre-family meeting questionnaire, the primary carers were asked to write key concerns to discuss during the family meetings and rate their concerns via a numerical rating scale: how upset/worried they were about the problem, frequency in which problem occurs, life interference with the problem, and the confidence to deal with the problem. Within 3 days after the meeting, the primary carers were asked to complete the post-meeting questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of the family meeting.

Results

There was a significant improvement in family carers’ psychological well-being in the post-meeting questionnaires compared to the pre-meeting questionnaires as follows: how upset/worried they were about the problem, t(14) = 3.1071, p < 0.000011; frequency in which problem occurs, t(14) = 3.2857, p < 0.000013; life interference with the problem, t(14) = 2.7857, p < 0.000008; and the confidence to deal with the problem, t(13) = −2.3007, p < 0.005480.

Conclusions

In accordance with the study aims, we were able to demonstrate the utility of a questionnaire as an essential tool to plan and conduct effective communication between health professionals and primary family carers in Japanese cancer patients. This pilot test should be followed up with a larger sample and a controlled trial.

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Conflict of interest

We have nothing to declare in relation to conflicts of interest. We, the authors, all agree to submit the manuscript and are responsible for the contents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Palliative Medicine, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Mieko Fukui, Satoru Iwase, Naoko Sakata, Yujiro Kuroda & Keiichi Nakagawa

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi

  3. Centre for Palliative Care, c/o St. Vincent’s & University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Karen Quinn & Peter L. Hudson

  4. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Peter L. Hudson

Authors
  1. Mieko Fukui
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  2. Satoru Iwase
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  3. Naoko Sakata
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  4. Yujiro Kuroda
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  5. Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi
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  6. Keiichi Nakagawa
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  7. Karen Quinn
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  8. Peter L. Hudson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mieko Fukui.

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Fukui, M., Iwase, S., Sakata, N. et al. Effectiveness of using clinical guidelines for conducting palliative care family meetings in Japan. Support Care Cancer 21, 53–58 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1491-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1491-y

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