ArticleBMC primary care2022
The GP's perceived role and use of language concerning the existential dimension of palliative patients: a Dutch interview study.
Article in BMC primary care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- In search of existential health in Swedish primary care: perspectives from older adults who took part in an existential group treatment.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Palliative care: a foreign language? Nurses' perspectives on palliative care in a French comprehensive cancer centre.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundPalliative patients have to cope with their disease and impending death. Knowing what this means for a patient is crucial for person-centred care. Although guidelines state it is a GP core task to explore existential issues of palliative patients, this is not standard practice.
aimExploring Dutch GPs' perceived role regarding addressing the existential dimension of palliative patients, and which vocabulary GPs use when doing this. DESIGN AND
settingQualitative study amongst Dutch GPs. Participants were recruited by purposive sampling and snowballing, considering gender, working experience and ideological personal beliefs.
methodSemi-structured in-depth interviews were performed, transcribed and analysed using content analysis.
resultsSeventeen GPs participated. Three themes were identified: Language, Perceived role and Practice. Interviewees generally saw it as their role to pay attention to the existential dimension of palliative patients. However, not all knew how to define this role, or how to refer patients with existential struggles to a spiritual counsellor. The multidisciplinary Dutch guideline 'Existential and Spiritual Aspects of Palliative Care' seemed largely unknown. Interviewees mostly fulfilled their role in an intuitive, pragmatic way. Questions such as "What does it mean for you to be seriously ill?" or "Do you have support from someone or something?" fitted daily practice.
conclusionThis study emphasizes the importance of basic GP education in exploring existential issues. The coexistence of a professionally obliged attention and an intuitive approach seems to be in conflict. We recommend appropriate training for GPs, research on the potential enhancement of collaboration between GPs and spiritual counsellors and implementation of the relevant guideline on well-known platforms.
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