El papel del conocimiento de diagnóstico y pronostico sobre la resiliencia y el apoyo social en pacientes paliativos

Abstract

Objective: To study how awareness of diagnosis and prognosis may help develop resilient coping and promote social support seeking. Also, to study the relationships between information variables and both sociodemographic and clinical variables. Methods: Analyzed variables include resilience (BRCS), social support (MOS), and informational variables. Our sample was made up of 192 patients admitted to a palliative care unit, with a mean age of 69.05 years (SD = 15.106). A total of 50.5 % were men, of which 82.8 % had a cancer diagnosis, 52.6 % had a low education level, and 45.3 % were married. Their average Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) score was 49.11. Results: There is a relationship between emotional support, prognosis awareness (0.151; p = 0.036) and perceived proximity of death (0.186; p = 0.010). Resilience was also positively correlated with prognosis awareness (0.258; p = 0.000) and perceived proximity of death (0.146; p = 0.044). Conclusion: The significance of emotional support highlights the role of health professionals as providers of information, adapting their communication style to the information needs of patients and their families. Also, resilient coping helps in the management of information and its subsequent adjustment to the end-of-life situation.