Palliative Care with Dignity Therapy in Supporting Elderly Patients with Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• Has a cancer diagnosis (receiving cancer therapy or cancer control care, responsive to NOT-CA-14-016).
• Is receiving outpatient palliative care.
• Responsive to PAR-13-354.
• Is able to speak and read English.
• Is physically able to complete the study (Palliative Performance Scale [PPS] > 50, suggesting a mean in life expectancy of 53 days at the time of enrollment), each patient is expected to participate in the study for 28-42 days maximum (4-6 weeks).

Exclusion Criteria

• Are legally blind.
• Are cognitively unable to complete study measures (Mini Mental Status Exam [MMSE] does not correctly spell the word world backwards).
• Have history of psychosis (medical record review).
• Have Patient Dignity Inventory and Spiritual Distress scores that indicate their distress levels fall outside the remaining quota for a given step (quota is 50% of sample/site/step with low distress =< 2 problems rated > 2 & 50% with high distress >= 3 problems rated > 2 on each scale).
• Are participating in another psychosocial intervention study that is focused on concepts similar to the proposed study.