No abstract

Professional psychologists are increasingly likely to encounter opportunities to work with patients and families facing end-of-life issues. Psychologists can provide psychological assessment, intervention for patients and families, consultation with and support of health care team members, grief therapy, and program development and evaluation. Psychological services are useful for healthy individuals who wish to make thoughtful plans about their own future care, patients with life-limiting illnesses, families stressed by providing end-of-life care, bereaved individuals, and health care providers who face issues of burnout and strain. Several challenges for psychologists working in end-of-life care are noted, including training, development of clear roles, and reimbursement. "My mother is dying from breast cancer. Her oncologist told me that she will probably only live a few more months no matter what he does, but she is continuing her radiation and chemotherapy anyway. I think they both want to keep her hopes up. It's so awkward not being able to talk with her realistically about her future. The stress of seeing her go through this and doing what I can to take care of her is so depressing. I wonder whether she would benefit from hospice care but I am afraid to raise the issue and don't want to seem like I am giving up. All of this makes me very scared about my own aging-I don't want to die in a hospital connected to a bunch of tubes and machines. What should I do?" Professional psychologists are increasingly likely to have such conversations with their patients. As psychology increasingly demonstrates its value beyond traditional mental health areas, in such diverse fields as primary care and health psychology (Brown et al.

Interdisciplinary palliative care services have been rapidly expanding in health care settings over the past 10 years, particularly through the establishment of interdisciplinary palliative care teams. Relatively few of these teams formally include psychologists, although their skills of enhancing patients' and families' well-being and lessening suffering make an enormous contribution to the care provided. In this article, we define palliative care in broad terms, distinguishing it from hospice and end-of-life care. Using a case-based approach, we then explore the contribution of psychologists to the patient- and family-centered approach espoused by palliative care, including the knowledge, skills, and self-awareness needed to work effectively with these very ill patients and their families. We close with a call to action to better train and integrate psychologists into the rapidly growing field of palliative care.

No abstract

No abstract