Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network; University of Toronto
Abstract
The progression of advanced disease often brings enormous adaptational challenges related to a loss of the capacity to be self-sufficient and to a heightened need for support from others. The increasing need to rely on others at the end of life may reactivate relational problems and may trigger threatening feelings of vulnerability and dependency. Clinicians may find it difficult to identify and respond appropriately to the specific relational needs of individuals receiving end-of-life care. Attachment theory is a developmentally-based approach to understanding the formation and maintenance of relationships relevant to felt security. Although attachment theory has been widely applied to parent-child relationships and to relationships of individuals with chronic medical conditions to their medical caregivers, it has not previously been applied to the understanding of clinician-patient relationships in the palliative care setting. This paper provides an overview of this theory and demonstrates its application and relevance to palliative care.
Subject
Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine,General Medicine
Cited by
102 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献