Hospice Care: Legacy And Dignity Project

Abstract

The purpose of the internship was to bring attention to the effects of dignity centered questions on patient memory, using dignity therapy (DT) protocol. Patient comfort and wellbeing are the main goals of hospice care, and it is essential to bolster end-of-life experience by having meaningful conversations that combine DT questions. This can benefit the patient and the family by not only preparing legacies of memory but also mitigating distress and stimulating the mind through reasoning ability. It is known that repetition, revisiting familiar areas, and talking about the past improves memory. Every week, the same questions were revisited, and with each week the patient was able to recall more from her past. Patients feel a sense of dignity and peace when they have an opportunity to talk about their lives or things that they would like to recall or transmit to others. These centered questions stimulate the mind and enable patients to sustain a feeling of an intact essence.