Assessment of Mood and Hope in Critically-Ill Patients as a Basis for the Improvement for the Palliative and Hospice Care

Abstract

The aim of the research is to present a level of hope in people in the terminal phase of cancer who differ in terms of mood: cheerful vs. sad. The study group consisted of 246 patients. Their average age was 59.5. The youngest respondent was 18 and the oldest was 90. The Personal Card tests by T. Witkowski (KI) and B.L. Block (NCN-36), designed for people struggling with serious life-threatening diseases, were used. The test consists of four scales distinguished by factor analysis. Each scale comprises of eight items. The following are used to study hope: the situational dimension—health; the telek-temporal dimension—goals; the spiritual dimension—religious beliefs; and the emotional-affective dimension—motivations. In the global view, the hope of the subjects was moderate. In the situational dimension—health, the telek-temporal dimension—goals, and the spiritual dimension—religious beliefs, people with a generally cheerful mood had stronger hope, in comparison to people with a sad mood. Only in the emotional-affective dimension—motivations, did people with a sad mood manifest stronger hope in comparison to people with a cheerful mood. The conducted research allowed us to conclude that mood is one of the determinants of hope in terminally ill cancer patients.