Exploring the Associations of Comfort, Relatedness States, and Life-Closure in Hospice Patients

This cross-sectional survey study investigated the associations among the concepts of comfort, relatedness states, and life-closure, which are integral to understanding family interaction at the end of life. The conceptual frameworks that informed the study were Comfort Theory (Kolcaba, 2003) and Relatedness Theory (Hagerty, Lynch-Sauer, Patusky & Bouwsema, 1993). A convenience sample of 30 hospice participants completed the Hospice Comfort Questionnaire, Verbal Rating Comfort Scale, two Relatedness States Visual Analog Scales, the Life-Closure Scale and two exploratory questions concerning family interaction activities. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Graphical analysis, using an x-y scatter plot, displayed the states of relatedness.The older, predominantly female participants were interviewed either in their homes (n =15) or in the hospice inpatient setting (n = 15). Life closure was associated with participant’s reported levels of involvement (r = .36, p = .001) and comfort (r = .35, p= .06) in relationships. There was a significant difference between location of participants and levels of relatedness. Inpatient participants had higher levels of involvement (t (18) = -2.07, p = .05) and comfort (t (28) = - 2.06, p = .05) in their relationships compared to participants residing in the home setting. Concurrent validity of the Verbal Rating Comfort Scale to the Hospice Comfort Questionnaire was established in this sample and comfort had a strong, statistically significant (r = .69, p = <.001) association with life-closure. A researcher-designed questionnaire elicited family interaction information, with the majority of reported interactions categorized as companionship. The results of this study reinforced previous findings, which found that social support, in the form of family interaction that is not associated with the physical tasks of caregiving, is important for life-closure and life-closure and comfort are important concepts at the end of life. An interesting finding was the higher levels of involvement and comfort in relationships in the inpatient setting.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Grantor dc:publisher

Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Hansen, Dana M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Higgins, Patricia

• Health Care
• Nursing
• end-of-life
• hospice
• comfort at the end-of-life
• Life-closure
• relatedness states at the end-of-life

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1354832063

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:case1354832063