Dignity and Compassion in End-of-Life Care

Abstract

Promoting death with dignity and optimizing quality of life are the foundational bedrocks on which palliative end-of-life care is built upon. However, most palliative interventions focus primarily on the physical domain of care without addressing the psychological, social, emotional, and existential needs of patients. The lack of a holistic care approach can lead to a fractured sense of dignity. Research around the world has consistently found that quality care for protecting patient dignity at life’s end is intricately linked with the practice of compassion. This chapter provides an overview of the empirical constitution of dignity from both Western and Asian literature. It introduces two clinically robust and research-driven therapeutic engagements, dignity therapy and family dignity intervention, for protecting and enhancing patients’ holistic health in the face of mortality. Finally, it synthesizes dignity-enhancing interventions with compassion-based approaches to inform and advance the practice of dignified and compassionate care at the end of life.