title: Concepts and definitions for "supportive care," "best supportive care," "palliative care," and "hospice care" in the published literature, dictionaries, and textbooks.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Commonly used terms such as "supportive care," "best supportive care," "palliative care," and "hospice care" were rarely and inconsistently defined in the palliative oncology literature. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to further identify concepts and definitions for these terms.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched MEDLINE, PsycInfo, EMBASE, and CINAHL for published peer-reviewed articles from 1948 to 2011 that conceptualized, defined, or examined these terms. Two researchers independently reviewed each citation for inclusion and then extracted the concepts/definitions when available. Dictionaries/textbooks were also searched.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine of 32 "SC/BSC," 25 of 182 "PC," and 12 of 42 "HC" articles focused on providing a conceptual framework/definition. Common concepts for all three terms were symptom control and quality-of-life for patients with life-limiting illness. "SC" focused more on patients on active treatment compared to other categories (9/9 vs. 8/37) and less often involved interdisciplinary care (4/9 vs. 31/37). In contrast, "HC" focused more on volunteers (6/12 vs. 6/34), bereavement care (9/12 vs. 7/34), and community care (9/12 vs. 6/34). Both "PC" and "SC/BSC" were applicable earlier in the disease trajectory (16/34 vs. 0/9). We found 13, 24, and 17 different definitions for "SC/BSC," "PC," and "HC," respectively. "SC/BSC" was the most variably defined, ranging from symptom management during cancer therapy to survivorship care. Dictionaries/textbooks showed similar findings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified defining concepts for "SC/BSC," "PC," and "HC" and developed a preliminary conceptual framework unifying these terms along the continuum of care to help build consensus toward standardized definitions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Care & Rehabilitation Medicine Unit 1414, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. dhui@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: Maxine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De La Cruz
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Henrique A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: Jung Hye
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Torres-Vigil
authors.forename: Sun Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Rony
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dev
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hutchins
authors.forename: Christiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liem
authors.forename: Duck-Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bruera
mesh_terms: D017051:Hospice Care / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods*; D009626:Terminology as Topic