Fatigue (in palliative care)

Chapter 10: Fatigue

Description:

The problem of fatigue is prevalent in all chronic and life-limiting illness, and this symptom and the way it affects people’s wellbeing is therefore an important focus of palliative care. The principal message of this chapter is that a single approach cannot manage fatigue. Fatigue is a total experience affecting a person physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. Its aetiology is similarly multifactorial and a comprehensive approach to nursing management is thus required.

Topics:

• Introduction
• What is Fatigue?
• Prevalence of fatigue
• Physical sensations of fatigue
• Psychological and affective sensations of fatigue
• Cognitive sensations of fatigue
• What causes fatigue?
  • Stress and central nervous system factors
  • Disease-related and treatment-related factors
  • Personal and environmental factors
• Theories of fatigue
• How can nurses help effectively?
  • Communication and Education
  • Balancing activity and rest
• Fatigue at the end of life
• Conclusion

Author / Speaker:

Dr Davina Porock
Davina is a registered nurse and senior lecturer in Cancer Care Nursing, University of Hull (Yorkshire, UK). She has worked in cancer and palliative-care nursing since 1987 in both community and acute settings. Davina’s interest in research grew through her master’s degree at Curtin University and her doctoral studies at Edith Cowan University (both Perth, Western Australia). Since then, she has worked in Britain at the University of Hull as a senior lecturer in cancer-care nursing, and in the USA as an associate professor, Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri- Columbia. Davina’s research in cancer-related fatigue and its clinical management has developed through ongoing collaborative work with nurses in clinical practice, thus ensuring that theory development and research is grounded in the realities of nursing practice.

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