Meaninglessness in Terminally Ill Cancer Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study

Although recent empirical studies reveal that fostering patients' perception of meaning in their lives is an essential task for palliative care clinicians, few studies have reported the effects of training programs for nurses specifically aimed at improving these skills. The primary aim of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the effects of an educational workshop focusing on patients' feelings of meaninglessness on nurses' confidence, self-reported practice, and attitudes toward caring for such patients, in addition to burnout and meaning of life. The study was designed as a single-institution, randomized controlled trial using a waiting list control. The intervention consisted of eight 180-minute training sessions over four months, including lectures and exercises using structured assessment. A total of 41 nurses were randomly allocated to three groups, which were separately trained, and all were evaluated four times at three-month intervals (before intervention, between each intervention, and after the last intervention). Assessments included validated Confidence and Self-Reported Practice scales, the Attitudes Toward Caring for Patients Feeling Meaningless Scale (including willingness to help, positive appraisal, and helplessness items), the Maslach Burnout Scale, job satisfaction, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual (FACIT-Sp). One participant withdrew from the study before the baseline evaluation, and the remaining 40 nurses completed the study. The nurses were all female and had a mean age of 31 ± 6.4, and mean clinical experience of 8.9 ± 5.5 years. There were no significant differences in background among the groups. The intervention effects were statistically significant on the Confidence Scale, the Self-Reported Practice Scale, and the willingness to help, positive appraisal, and helplessness subscales, in addition to the overall levels of burnout, emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, job satisfaction, and the FACIT-Sp. The change ratio of each parameter ranged from 5.6% (willingness to help) to 37% for the helplessness score and 51% on the Confidence Scale. The percentages of nurses who evaluated this program as “useful” or “very useful” were 85% (to understand the conceptual framework in caring for terminally ill patients with meaninglessness), 80% (to foster nurses' personal values), and 88% (to know how to provide care for patients with meaninglessness). This educational intervention had a significant beneficial effect on nurse-perceived confidence, practice, and attitudes in providing care for patients feeling meaninglessness, in addition to the levels of burnout and spiritual well-being of nurses.