title: Nurse education program on meaninglessness in terminally ill cancer patients: a randomized controlled study of a novel two-day workshop.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fostering patients' sense of meaning is an essential task for palliative care clinicians. Few studies have reported the effects on nurses of a short-term training program aimed at improving skills to relieve feelings of meaninglessness in terminally ill cancer patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The primary aim of this study was to determine the impact on nurses of a novel two-day education program focusing on care that addresses patients' feelings of meaninglessness. Measured were impacts on nurses' confidence, self-reported practice, attitudes toward caring for such patients, burnout, meaning of life, and knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a randomized controlled trial using the waiting list control. Intervention consisted of a two-day interactive education program. A total of 76 nurses randomly allocated to two groups completed the study. Outcome measures included confidence scale; self-reported practice scale; scales of nursing attitudes toward caring for patients who experience feelings of meaningless (willingness to help, positive appraisal, helplessness, nurse-perceived value of being, and nurse-perceived value of patients' inner power); Maslach burnout scale, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual, and knowledge scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant intervention effects in nurse-reported confidence and nurse-perceived value of patients' inner power. Nurse-reported helplessness showed marginally significant improvement after intervention (p=0.067). No significant intervention effects were observed in the self-reported practice scale; attitudes toward caring for patients (willingness to help, positive appraisal, and nurse-perceived value of being); burnout scale, meaning of life; and knowledge score. The percentages of nurses who evaluated this program as useful or very useful were 95% (understanding the conceptual framework) and 85% (helping to learn how to provide care for patients feeling meaninglessness in clinical practice).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This short-term educational intervention had a significant beneficial effect on nurses' confidence and modest effects on attitudes.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Palliative and Supportive Care and Seirei Hospice, Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital , Hamamatsu, Japan .
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kusajima
authors.forename: Sayuri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawa
authors.forename: Chizuru
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Imura
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ichihara
authors.forename: Mitsunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyashita
authors.forename: Takuhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchitomi
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019452:Terminally Ill