Impact of a Meaning-Centered Intervention on Job Satisfaction and Quality of Life among Palliative Care Nurses
Posted: April 29th, 2024
# Impact of a Meaning-Centered Intervention on Job Satisfaction and Quality of Life among Palliative Care Nurses
Palliative care nurses face many existential and emotional challenges in their work, such as witnessing suffering, death, and loss, as well as dealing with high levels of stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue. These challenges can affect their job satisfaction and quality of life, as well as their ability to provide compassionate and person-centered care to their patients and families. Therefore, it is important to develop and implement interventions that can support palliative care nurses in finding meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in their work, as well as enhancing their well-being and resilience.
One such intervention is the meaning-centered psycho-educational group intervention, called Enhancing meaning in palliative care nursing, designed by Fillion et al. (2006) . This intervention is based on the meaning-centered psychotherapy approach developed by Breitbart (2001) and Greenstein and Breitbart (2000) for terminally ill cancer patients, which in turn is inspired by Frankl’s (1984) existential therapeutic approach, called logotherapy. The main goal of this intervention is to help palliative care nurses discover and enhance the sources of meaning in their work, such as their personal values, goals, strengths, motivations, relationships, spirituality, and transcendence. By doing so, the intervention aims to increase job satisfaction and quality of life, as well as prevent burnout in this particular population.
The intervention consists of eight weekly sessions of 90 minutes each, conducted by two trained facilitators in a group format of six to eight nurses. Each session covers a specific theme related to meaning in palliative care nursing, such as:
– Session 1: Introduction to the intervention and assessment of expectations
– Session 2: Sources of meaning in palliative care nursing
– Session 3: Personal values and goals in palliative care nursing
– Session 4: Strengths and coping skills in palliative care nursing
– Session 5: Motivation and commitment in palliative care nursing
– Session 6: Relationships and communication in palliative care nursing
– Session 7: Spirituality and transcendence in palliative care nursing
– Session 8: Integration and closure of the intervention
The sessions are structured around three main components: didactic presentation of the theme, experiential exercises to explore the theme personally and professionally, and education based on themes of Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy. The didactic presentation provides theoretical and empirical information on the theme and its relevance for palliative care nursing. The experiential exercises include guided reflections, discussions, role plays, creative activities, and homework assignments that allow the nurses to apply the theme to their own work experience and context. The education component introduces key concepts of logotherapy, such as the will to meaning, the freedom of choice, the responsibility for one’s actions, the search for meaning in suffering, and the possibility of finding meaning in any situation.
The intervention has been evaluated by Fillion et al. (2009) in a randomized controlled trial with 96 palliative care nurses from four Canadian hospitals. The results showed that the intervention had a significant positive impact on job satisfaction and quality of life among the nurses who participated in it compared to those who received usual care. The intervention also reduced emotional exhaustion and increased personal accomplishment, two components of burnout. Moreover, the intervention enhanced several aspects of meaning in work, such as sense of coherence, sense of contribution, sense of purpose, sense of choice,
and sense of enjoyment. The authors concluded that the intervention was feasible, acceptable, and effective for palliative care nurses.
In summary, the meaning-centered intervention is a promising practice that can help palliative care nurses cope with the existential and emotional demands of their work, while fostering a sense of fulfillment and well-being. By enhancing the sources of meaning in their work, the intervention can also improve the quality of care that they provide to their patients and families.
# References
: Fillion L., Dupuis R., Tremblay I., et al. (2006). Enhancing meaning in palliative care practice: A meaning-centered intervention to promote job satisfaction. Palliative & Supportive Care , 4 , 333 – 344.
: Breitbart W. (2001). Spirituality and meaning in supportive care: Spirituality- and meaning-centered group psychotherapy interventions in advanced cancer . Supportive Care Cancer , 10 , 272 – 280.
: Greenstein M., Breitbart W. (2000). Cancer and the experience of meaning: A group psychotherapy program for people with cancer . American Journal Psychotherapy , 54 , 486 – 500.
: Frankl V.E. (1984). Man’s Search for Meaning . New York : Washington Square Press.
: Fillion L., Tremblay I., Truchon M., et al. (2009). Impact of a meaning-centered intervention on job satisfaction and on quality of life among palliative care nurses. Psycho-Oncology , 18 , 1300 – 1310.
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