Application of dignity therapy in cancer patients in advanced state

Abstract

The Dignity Therapy was designed to cope with suffering, psychosocial and existential distress among patients with advanced or terminal disease. This paper is a cuasi experimental study with sixteen cancer patients in advanced stages of the disease. The aim of the study is to apply, in our context, the Dignity Therapy as a proposal for intervention for the relief of suffering such patients, in order to assess whether there is pre and post intervention changes. The results of Wilcoxon’s test, show statistically significant differences comparing the pre-intervention and the post-intervention for the variables Anxiety and Well-being. Nevertheless, statistically significant differences are not observed for the variables Depression and Serenity. The subjects agreed to participate voluntarily, and all the subjects felt satisfied after the application of the Dignity Therapy and noted that they found it useful enough or very useful. These results suggest that it is an appropriate therapeutic approach to these patients.