Antea Worldwide Palliative Care Conference

Rome, 12-14 November 2008

ABSTRACT FORM

Presenting author Research in end of life with dementia: pitfalls and possibilities for quantitative studies
Jenny Van der Steen
Author: Jenny Van der Steen
Email:
j.vandersteen@vumc.nl Studying end of life in dementia is challenging because of the frailty of the population,
additional cognitive problems and difficulty of assessing when patients enter the terminal phase.
Phone Because of its potential benefit to large numbers of future patients, over recent years, research
has expanded rapidly. Quantitative studies, including observational studies which are frequently
ethically appropriate, are helpful to increase the desired evidence base of effective treatment and
Mobile phone end-of-life care in dementia patients. They are not invasive, and long-term care institutions can
host longitudinal studies with strong designs. Equalizing instruments across studies allows for
cross-national comparison of studies providing additional benefits. Several methodological
challenges need to be addressed, including: definition of the terminal phase, use of specific valid
Please underline the most and reliable and preferably common assessment instruments, adequate adjustment in the analytic
appropriate category for your phase, and careful interpretation of results in light of a lack of standards of care. Examples of
abstract how these challenges can be addressed will be presented, such as how to measure discomfort and
symptom burden, and how to adjust for confounding in assessing associations between treatment
• Pain and other symptoms
and outcome in observational studies.
• Palliative care for cancer patients

• Palliative care for non cancer

patients
• Paediatric palliative care
• Palliative care for the elderly
• The actors of palliative care
• Latest on drugs

• Pain

• Illness and suffering through

media
• Marginalisation and social stigma
at the end of life
• Palliative care advocacy projects

• Prognosis and diagnosis

communication in
different cultures
• Communication between doctor-
patient and patient-
equipe
• Religions and cultures versus
suffering, death and
bereavement
• Public institution in the world:
Session: Training & Research in palliative care

palliative care policies Chair: Dott. Franco Toscani

and law
• Palliative care: from villages to
metropolies
• Space, light and gardens for the
terminally ill patient
• End-of-life ethics
• Complementary therapies
• Education, training and research
• Fund-raising and no-profit
• Bereavement support
• Volunteering in palliative care
• Rehabilitation in palliative care
• Palliative care quality indicators
• Neurology in palliative care