Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Breast Cancer Women in Jordan

Purpose of the study: This study aimed to determine the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and its associated demographic factors among breast cancer patients in Jordan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using a self-administered survey that included practices and CAM therapies used in Jordan. Findings: Two hundred and fifty-six participants between 18 and 65 years completed the questionnaire. Fifty percent of patients used more than one CAM therapy. The most commonly used CAM therapy was listening to the holy book, followed by herbal treatment, and nutritional therapy. The use of CAM was influenced by income, education, and marital status. Conclusion: CAM use was found to be higher among well educated, married, and economically stable patients. The high prevalence of spiritual and nutritional CAM practices indicates that patients need psychological support to ease their unpleasant symptoms. Although cancer patients contemplate CAM therapies as important and favorable treatment, some CAM therapies can have a lethal effect on the patient’s health outcomes. The high prevalence of using CAM therapies among breast cancer patients in Jordan oblige the need to boost awareness among health practitioners’ and necessitates the need for patient’s education regarding unsafe and lethal CAM practices. Future studies might investigate the physiological effect of CAM therapies on the patient’s symptoms and health outcomes to report evidence of its effectiveness. More studies should investigate the potential side effects and possible interactions between CAM therapies and conventional treatment

Post Traumatic Growth in Palliative Care Nurses during the COVID-19 Era

Nurses are considered the backbone of the healthcare team as they work to advocate for patient’s rights to care. Recently palliative care nurses have been exiting the profession at high rates since COVID-19 because of high stress levels which affects their Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) leading to high burnout rates. Implementing a wellness intervention to promote PTG scores can enhance growth levels, reduce stress, increase retention rates, and promote nurses’ well-being (Salimi, Pakpour, Rahmani, Wilson, & Feizollahzadeh,2020). Aim: This study aims to provide baseline measures for the posttraumatic growth levels among palliative care nurses to administer a blog intervention at a later stage to analyze its effect on nurses\u27 posttraumatic growth. Method: The study used an electronic survey in the pretest phase for a diverse group of 226 registered nurses. The survey assessed five factors of PTG (i.e., relating to others, new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life). Results: The PTG levels were 12.9 for factor 1 (0-35), 15.9 for factor 2 (0-25), 20 for factor 3 (0-20), 6.4 for factor 4 (0-10), and 10.1 for factor 5 (0-15). PTG factor 3 “personal strength” recorded the highest score indicating that nurses felt stronger in palliative care units. PTG Factor 1 “relation to others” had the lowest score. A post-survey given to the same group of registered nurses awaits results to see if their responses differed or remained the same following the implementation of the online blog writing intervention. Recommendations: Based on our findings, there is a need to implement self-care measures for palliative care nurses to help improve their PTG levels specifically in appreciation of life, relation to others, and new possibilities. Further recommendations will be based on post-test results to determine if the self-care intervention was effective to be applied to a larger nurse population

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Breast Cancer Women in Jordan

Purpose of the study: This study aimed to determine the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and its associated demographic factors among breast cancer patients in Jordan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using a self-administered survey that included practices and CAM therapies used in Jordan. Findings: Two hundred and fifty-six participants between 18 and 65 years completed the questionnaire. Fifty percent of patients used more than one CAM therapy. The most commonly used CAM therapy was listening to the holy book, followed by herbal treatment, and nutritional therapy. The use of CAM was influenced by income, education, and marital status. Conclusion: CAM use was found to be higher among well educated, married, and economically stable patients. The high prevalence of spiritual and nutritional CAM practices indicates that patients need psychological support to ease their unpleasant symptoms. Although cancer patients contemplate CAM therapies as important and favorable treatment, some CAM therapies can have a lethal effect on the patient’s health outcomes. The high prevalence of using CAM therapies among breast cancer patients in Jordan oblige the need to boost awareness among health practitioners’ and necessitates the need for patient’s education regarding unsafe and lethal CAM practices. Future studies might investigate the physiological effect of CAM therapies on the patient’s symptoms and health outcomes to report evidence of its effectiveness. More studies should investigate the potential side effects and possible interactions between CAM therapies and conventional treatment

Palliative care needs and preferences of older adults with advanced or serious chronic illnesses and their families in rural communities of Indiana, USA

Purpose: To explore the palliative care needs and preferences of older adults with advanced or serious chronic illnesses and their families. Also, to propose strategies to promote supportive palliative care in the rural communities of Indiana, USA. Method: We conducted qualitative interviews to gather rural caregivers’ experiences of palliative care. Recruitment was done in collaboration with community partners using social media, flyers, emails, invitations, and word-of-mouth. A purposive sample of family caregivers was obtained. All the interviews were conducted online. The average interview was 30-45 minutes. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Findings: Our findings showed 6 major themes that indicated several palliative care needs and preferences of older patients and their families in rural communities that include: (1) difficulties in pain and symptom burden; (2) perceived discrimination and lack of trust; (3) longer distances to care facilities; (4) difficult conversations; (5) caregiving burden; and (6) use of telehealth in a rural palliative care context. Conclusion: Rural family caregivers experience several social inequities and disparities causing a lack of access to and low utilization of palliative care. All these disparities cause several challenges for patients and their families trying to manage serious illnesses and die in place with peace and comfort. Inadequate access and lack of resources cause pain and distress for both patients and their families. Provider education and trainings, initiating early palliative care models, integrating behavioral health in palliative care, and using culturally congruent care delivery approaches in support of community partners can improve palliative care services in rural communities