Advancing Symptom Alleviation With Palliative Treatment (ADAPT): A Qualitative Study to Understand How a Nurse and Social Worker Palliative Telecare Team Improved Quality of Life in Chronic Illness

Abstract

The Advancing Symptom Alleviation with Palliative Treatment (ADAPT) trial found that a nurse and social worker palliative telecare team (providing care via phone) improved quality of life in older Veteran patients with chronic illness. Our objective was to describe clinician and patient experiences of ADAPT and how ADAPT influenced Veterans’ quality of life. We used thematic analysis on structured interviews with 36 randomly selected patients, semi-structured focus groups with nine palliative care intervention team clinicians, and clinical intervention summaries of 147 patients. ADAPT proved to be an effective model for most Veterans by improving Veterans’ health care delivery and navigation and promoting timely and holistic health care and teaching skills that improved wellbeing. ADAPT also helped to improve patient engagement and sense of agency. These findings provide insights into how ADAPT improved Veterans’ quality of life through a nurse and social worker telecare team.

Randomized Control Trial Registry Number: CinicalTrials.gov NCT02713347.

URL For Trial Registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02713347.

Keywords

qualitative chronic illness thematic analysis palliative care

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