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Biomedical subjects

C M Parkes

Publications and source records attributed to C M Parkes.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Terminal care: evaluation of in-patient service at St Christopher's Hospice. Part I. Views of surviving spouse on effects of the service on the patient.

The surviving spouses of 34 patients who died of cancer at St Christopher's Hospice have been interviewed about 13 months after the patient's death. The information given is compared with that obtained from 34 spouses of patients dying from cancer in other hospitals and matched with the St Christopher's group. Patients at St Christopher's were less often thought to have suffered severe pain and other distress than at other hospitals, but pain relief was not bought at the cost of drug-induced confusion and patients at St Christopher's remained more mobile than at other hospitals. Hospice patients were more aware of chapel services and prayers than at other hospitals. None was said to have been upset by these and 66% were glad of them. Despite the frequency of deaths in the Hospice, patients at St Christopher's were no more likely to be thought to have been 'upset' by such events than patients elsewhere or to have found their interactions with other patients anything but helpful.

Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1979

Terminal care: evaluation of in-patient service at St Christopher's Hospice. Part II. Self assessments of effects of the service on surviving spouses.

Self-assessments of 34 spouses of patients who had died from cancer at St Christopher's Hospice were compared with self-assessments of a matched group of spouses of patients who had died in other hospitals in the vicinity. The spouses of St Christopher's patients differed significantly from the comparison group in spending more time at the hospital, talking to more members of staff, other patients and visitors, reporting less anxiety and psychosomatic accompaniments of anxiety before (but not after) the patient's death and being less worried about pain, others hurting or harming the patient or about revealing their own fears to the patient. The institutional ideals of the Hospice were characterized as: 'The hospital is like a family', 'Nothing is too much trouble' and 'Don't worry'.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1979

Terminal care.

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England↗
PubMed1978

Home or hospital? Terminal care as seen by surviving spouses.

Among 276 married patients with cancer under the age of 65 who died in two South London boroughs during the period 1967 to 1971, 41 were still under active treatment at the time of death. I studied the remaining 85 per cent who experienced some form of terminal care, and in particular compared reports by the surviving spouses of 65 patients whose care was home-centred and 100 hospital-centred patients.Although home-centred care was most often chosen for patients who were said to have had little severe pain before the period of terminal care, during that period there was a sharp increase in reports of pain, much of it severe and unrelieved. Hospital-centred patients were said to have had much less pain and more confusion during the final phase of care and were more likely to have been confined to bed than those at home. The amount of anxiety reported by the patient's spouse was not markedly different under the two patterns of care, nor did the pattern of care influence subsequent adjustment to bereavement.Qualitative differences between the two groups are considered and it is concluded that although home-centred care can be successful it is often associated with unnecessary suffering. Implications for the home care of the terminally ill are discussed.

Female↗
PubMed1975

Psycho-social transitions: comparison between reactions to loss of a limb and loss of a spouse.

In 21 widows and 46 amputees a psychological reaction to loss designated as "grief' was commonly reported. This included an initial period of numbness, soon followed by restless pining with preoccupation with thoughts of the loss, a clear visual memory of the lost object and a sense of its presence. Defensive processes, reflected in difficulty in believing in the loss and avoidance of reminders, were also evident. Widows differed from amputees in showing more evidence of overt distress in the early post-loss phase, but whereas these features diminished in prevalence in the course of the next year the equivalent features reported by the amputee group remained virtually unchanged.

Adaptation, Psychological↗