Hope and the prospects of healing at the end of life.
Is healing possible at the end of life? Answering "yes," this paper argues that the achievement of holistically conceived health-related goals that patients value is an important dimension of the phenomena of healing and that such achievements are possible at the end of life, especially if hope is adroitly managed. Conceiving of hope: (1) as a set of goal-directed cognitive processes that influence and are influenced by emotion, (2) as a potent cognitive/affective heuristic that influences how individuals consider and select goals, and (3) as an individual experience that occurs in a hierarchical social and cultural ecology of hope, this paper considers possible interventions and how they might be evaluated, seeking to improve the prospects of healing at the end of life.
Feudtner
Chris
C
Pediatric Advanced Care Team, Integrated Care Service, and Pediatric Generalist Research Group, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Feudtner@email.chop.edu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D016638:Critical Illness; D004645:Empathy; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012107:Research Design; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States