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Association between level of exposure to death and dying and professional quality of life among palliative care workers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2017

Tali Samson  and
Pesach Shvartzman
Tali Samson*
Affiliation:
Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Department of Family Medicine, Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, The Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Pesach Shvartzman
Affiliation:
Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Department of Family Medicine, Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, The Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel Clalit Health Services for the Southern District, Beer-Sheva, Israel
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Tali Samson, Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. E-Mail: samsont@bgu.ac.il.
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Abstract

Background:

Exposure to the death and dying of others is an anxiety-provoking condition that can contribute to psychological stress. However, the results of empirical studies that evaluated work-related outcomes among physicians and nurses with repeated exposure to dying patients are not consistent.

Objective:

Our aim was to evaluate whether a high level of exposure to death and dying (LED) can increase the risk for poor professional quality of life (ProQoL) in most healthcare workers, but it can also improve ProQoL in a subset of healthcare workers with specific characteristics.

Method:

We employed a cross-sectional survey designed to better understand the role of LED as a predictor of ProQoL among healthcare workers.

Setting and Participants:

Comparison of physicians and nurses with high LED (home-based palliative care units) with a matched group of physicians and nurses with low LED (primary care units) and evaluation of possible interaction effects among LED, death anxiety (DA), and engagement as predictors of ProQoL.

Results:

The final sample included 110 questionnaires from the high-LED group (response rate = 39%) and 131 from the low-LED (response rate = 24%) group. Workers with high LED reported an increased level of compassion satisfaction (CS) and low to moderate levels of burnout (BU) and secondary traumatic stress (STS), with no significant differences with respect to other healthcare providers. Although levels of CS, STS, and BU did not differ between groups, a univariate MANOVA revealed that the interaction effect of LED × Engagement reduced levels of CS and that the interaction effect of LED × DA increased STS among workers with high LED.

Significance of results:

LED was significantly correlated with ProQoL among healthcare workers with high LED due to the reported interaction effect. These findings imply, for the first time, that there is a possible correlation between engagement and the risk for poor ProQoL among workers with high LED. Further research is essential to gain a better understanding of this issue.

Keywords

Palliative careProfessional quality of lifeDeath exposureEngagementDeath anxiety
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 16 , Special Issue 4: Topics in Bereavement , August 2018 , pp. 442 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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