Paul K. Maciejewski’s research while affiliated with Life Care Medical Center and other places

... This review supports the notion that complicated grief is a condition characterized by intense yearning and significant distress (Maciejewski & Prigerson, 2023;Reed et al., 2022). While this review cannot establish that these characteristics clearly distinguish complicated grief from uncomplicated grief, descriptions from the primary studies do suggest that complicated grief is more profound than uncomplicated grief reactions. ...

Reference:

Experiences of Complicated Grief - A Synthesis of Qualitative Studies

... F amily members of patients who die in intensive care units (ICU) may be at risk of experiencing prolonged grief symptoms, such as difficulty accepting the loss, bitterness, intense yearning, inability to trust others, emotional numbness, and the feeling of being trapped in grief. 1 While the formal diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder occurs several months after the loss, many family members exhibit symptoms of prolonged grief during their time in the ICU and shortly thereafter. 1,2 The transition from curative treatment to end-of-life care, aggressive medical interventions, difficulties with communication, unexpected death, or treatment withdrawal/withholding decisions can be distressing for families, who often have limited time to process the possible PROOF impact of an anticipated death. 3,4 When families face withdrawing life-sustaining treatment decisions, feelings of stress, doubt, and guilt can arise. ...

Reference:

Effectiveness of interventions to prevent or treat prolonged grief symptoms among families of patients who die in Intensive Care Units: A systematic review protocol

... Prior research on factors associated with aggressive EoL care in patients with cancer has examined primarily socio-demographic, clinical, and healthcare service factors. Factors associated with higher likelihood of aggressive EoL care include as follows: young age [6][7][8][9], male identity [6,9], race (e.g., Black patients linked to higher odds of aggressive acute care [9], white patients linked to higher odds of EoL systemic treatments [10]), more patient comorbidities [6], shorter time since cancer diagnosis [6], commercial insurance [10], and caregiver personality characteristic [11]. Factors associated with lower likelihood of aggressive EoL care include as follows: accurate prognostic understanding [2]; receipt [12] and duration [13] of palliative care; and access to psychological, social work, and/or spiritual care [14][15][16]. ...

Reference:

Associations between perceived interpersonal support and aggressiveness of care in the last month of life among patients with advanced cancer

... To mitigate these disparities, policymakers could intervene by improving health literacy, enhancing social support systems, increasing educational opportunities, and promoting family health in rural areas. For instance, previous research had implemented a communication intervention for diverse advanced cancer patient-caregiver dyads, and the results indicated that patients demonstrated an improvement in the completion of ACP [68]. Additionally, government initiatives could focus on improving economic conditions in rural regions to elevate residents' income levels, thereby fostering greater acceptance of ACP [69]. ...

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Decomposition and comparative analysis of urban-rural disparity in attitude towards advance care planning among Chinese adults: A nationwide study

... QoL domains such as patient perceived interpersonal support, physical well-being, psychological health, and existential beliefs are often targeted by interventions aiming to improve QoL near the EoL and the quality of EoL care (e.g., EoL discussions [2,[17][18][19], palliative care [20,21]). However, how these QoL domains relate to receipt of aggressive EoL care remains essentially unknown [22]. ...

Reference:

Associations between perceived interpersonal support and aggressiveness of care in the last month of life among patients with advanced cancer

... This is consistent with the study of Funk-Lawler et al. (2020), who reported that nearly half of the patients were severely distressed, but there was no significant association between the total distress score and demographic and illness-related characteristics [25]. However, several studies found demographic correlations with distress levels, such as younger age, gender and type of cancer [19,26,27]. The patients in this study reported a wide range of distressing issues that were significantly influenced by practical, family issues, emotional, and physical factors. ...

Reference:

Prevalence of Anxiety, Depression, and Distress and Their Association With Problems Encountered by Advanced Cancer Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in Saudi Arabia

... Education about glioblastoma's progression, expected symptoms, and treatment effects can empower caregivers with the knowledge needed to assist patients while managing their own emotional health. Hospice and palliative care teams often provide holistic support, addressing the spiritual, psychological, and physical aspects of care, which can help both patients and families navigate the advanced stages of the disease with dignity and comfort [64,65]. ...

Reference:

Glioblastoma: Clinical Presentation, Multidisciplinary Management, and Long-Term Outcomes

... In the case of grief, Western cultural discourses, reflected through interpersonal interactions (i.e., talk), have historically constrained understandings of grief as a "normalized" response to the death of a person (Andipatin et al., 2019;Neimeyer et al., 2014). This discourse informs that there are boundaries distinguishing grief from bereavement, asserting that expressions of grief should be potent but transitory, and constrained to palatable emotions (e.g., concealment), dictated by gendered, racial-ethnic, and social expectations (Cacciatore & DeFrain, 2015;Falzarano et al., 2022;Moran, 2016). ...

Reference:

“It comes in waves”: A relational dialectics approach to exploring living grief in U.S. emerging adults with invisible illness

... Three instruments were used in this research. The first was the Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (PG-13) created by Prigerson and Maciejewski,19 adapted and validated in Spanish in 2016 by Estevan. 20 The PG-13 consists of 13 items with Likert-type responses, and it can be used for both purposes assessing the intensity of grief in a continuous form on a dimensional scale and diagnosing prolonged grief disorder according to the five proposed criteria: grief (necessary prior to filling out the questionnaire in the first place), symptoms of intense separation anxiety (2 items), duration greater than 6 months (1 item), cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms (9 items), and functional impairment (1 item). ...

Reference:

Prolonged grief in relatives of deceased patients due to COVID-19 is associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms: A survey-based study in Peru

... Tergas et al. performed multi-institutional study of 302 cancer patients across the United States evaluated the effect of immigrant status on end of life. The authors found that immigrants were more likely to die in hospital settings, less likely to die at their preferred location, and more likely to report poor quality of death [60]. It has been suggested that early palliative care consultation may neutralize some racial/ethnic differences in access to hospice and palliative care services [61]. ...

Reference:

Existing Health Inequities in the Treatment of Advanced and Metastatic Cancers