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RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNICATIVE ACTS, SOCIAL WELL-BEING, AND SPIRITUALITY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE AT THE END OF LIFE

Prince-Paul, Maryjo
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1165007187

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Nursing.
The dying experience is one that impacts all dimensions of a person. Patients with a life-limiting disease face great physical and psychological challenges and frequently experience emotional distress. Yet, the end of life also offers tremendous opportunities for personal growth and the deepening of relationships. The importance of communication has well been documented. Additionally, communication seems to have heightened importance at the end of life. Byock (1996) suggests that there are four things that need to be communicated at the end of life. These include the communicative acts of gratitude (“thank you”), forgiveness (“forgive me”/ “I forgive you”), love (“I love you”), and farewell (“good bye”). These acts can be examined as components of relationship-affirmation. There were two purposes of this study. The first was to explore relationships among the QOLEOL (as measured by the single item QUAL-E), communicative acts, social well-being, and spiritual well-being. The second was to examine the influence of communicative acts, social well-being and spiritual well-being on the completion and preparation domains of the QUAL-E and the single item QUAL-E. A cross sectional, descriptive, correlational design was used with fifty adult hospice patients with a cancer diagnosis. The overall model revealed that spiritual well-being was the greatest predictor of overall quality of life, explaining 53% of the variance. Although not statistically significant, the communicative acts of love and gratitude made a small contribution to the overall model and its potential for clinical significance warrants further investigation. Nurses need adequate and proper tools to facilitate conversation among the patient, family, significant others, and professional caregivers. Before designing and testing intervention strategies and tools, researchers must gain empirical confirmation of the proposed elements of relationship affirmation and the effect of the specific communicative acts. The knowledge gained through this investigation will be directly useful to practicing nurses in establishing the importance of explicitly assessing relationships and supporting patients and families in communication.
Barbara Daly (Advisor)
Health Sciences, Nursing
END OF LIFE; COMMUNICATION; SOCIAL WELL BEING; SPIRITUALITY

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Prince-Paul, M. (2007). RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNICATIVE ACTS, SOCIAL WELL-BEING, AND SPIRITUALITY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE AT THE END OF LIFE [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1165007187

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Prince-Paul, Maryjo. RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNICATIVE ACTS, SOCIAL WELL-BEING, AND SPIRITUALITY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE AT THE END OF LIFE. 2007. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1165007187.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Prince-Paul, Maryjo. "RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNICATIVE ACTS, SOCIAL WELL-BEING, AND SPIRITUALITY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE AT THE END OF LIFE." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1165007187

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1165007187
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© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.