Promoting Dignity, Meaningfulness and Mental Well-Being

University Hospital Basel

Status: Completed

Conditions: Life-limiting Serious Illness

Treatments: Procedure: Dignity Therapy (DT) module; Procedure: Mindfulness-based interventions module; Procedure: CALM Therapy module

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03744442

2018-01998, va18Eckstein

Details and patient eligibility

About

Feasibility study to test the feasibility and acceptability of a designed personalized modular Intervention consisting of three modules, including Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) Therapy, Dignity Therapy (DT), and a mindfulness-based Intervention

Full description

Patient with a life-limiting serious illness commonly experience substantial emotional and spiritual distress, death anxieties, depressive symptoms and loss of dignity and purpose in life. Fostering dignity and meaning and relieving psychological distress have been identified as a core objective for end-of-life care. However, individual's needs for dignity and psychological support at the end of life may vary. Therefore, a personalized approach is needed. On the basis of theoretical frameworks and existing dignity- fostering and meaning- based interventions, as well as an one-day workshop with international experts in the field of palliative care, a personalized modular intervention, consisting of three modules, including CALM Therapy, Dignity Therapy, and a mindfulness-based Intervention, was developed.

Enrollment: 10 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Informed Consent as documented by signature
• Patients in palliative situation (i.e. patients suffering from an advanced, incurable, life-limiting disease with multimodal support needs)
• Estimated life expectancy ≤ 18 months
• Patients seen by the palliative consultation-liaison service at the University Hospital Basel as an in- or outpatient
• Willingness and capacity to commit at least three contacts over about 7-10 days

Exclusion criteria

• Being delirious or otherwise substantially cognitively impaired (based on clinical consensus)
• Being too ill to complete the requirements of the study protocol
• Unable to understand and speak German

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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10 participants in 3 patient groups

Dignity Therapy (DT) module

Active Comparator group

Description:

psychotherapeutic intervention asking patients about their most important achievements, roles and other important aspects of life; two structured sessions of 60 minutes conducted by a trained therapist

Treatment:

Procedure: Dignity Therapy (DT) module

CALM Therapy module

Active Comparator group

Description:

supportive-expressive psychotherapy aiming to help (1) manage the disease, symptom and treatment, and communicate with healthcare providers, to (2) adjust to changes in self-concept, personal relationships, and support needs, to (3) find a sense of meaning and purpose in life, and to (4) prepare for the future, sustain hope, and face the end of life; two structured sessions of 60 minutes conducted by a trained therapist

Treatment:

Procedure: CALM Therapy module

Mindfulness-based interventions module

Active Comparator group

Description:

Mind-body techniques reducing existential and spiritual distress and dealing with common experiences related to life-limiting diseases, including loss of control, uncertainty about the future; two structured sessions of 60 minutes conducted by a trained therapist

Treatment:

Procedure: Mindfulness-based interventions module