Enhancing meaning in palliative care practice: a meaning-centered intervention to promote job satisfaction.

Overview

OBJECTIVES: This article introduces a new meaning-centered psycho-educational group intervention, called Enhancing meaning in palliative care nursing, designed to support nurses providing palliative care. This intervention aims at increasing job satisfaction and quality of life, as well as preventing burnout in this particular population. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS: Its format and content are founded on the meaning-centered psychotherapy approach developed for terminally ill cancer patients (Breitbart, 2001; Greenstein & Breitbart, 2000). Frankl's existential therapeutic approach, called logotherapy, serves as the underlying theoretical framework to this intervention. DEVELOPMENT: Following the presentation of the context and the development of the intervention, its content is described. CONCLUSION: A brief description of the ongoing randomized controlled trial testing the intervention is then provided. Finally, the way in which this intervention could contribute to nurses' quality of life and suggestions for future developments are briefly discussed.