Understanding End-of-Life Care

This book addresses the psychological, behavioural, emotional, and social issues that arise for cancer patients and their loved ones. It highlights how the existing stigma attached to cancer and associated mental illness constitutes major barriers to optimal psychosocial care of patients. This volume features scholarly entries designed to help clinicians review, anticipate, and respond to emotional issues that often arise in the context of treating cancer patients. Numerous cross-references and succinct tables and figures make it easy to use even for non-medical practitioners. It assists care providers in meeting challenges through the latest findings from wider Indian perspectives of psychological and social issues related to cancer. The relevance of psycho-oncology at different stages of disease (during treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative end-of-life care), along with various psycho-oncological intervention methods, are also illustrated. This book will be useful to students, researchers, and teachers from the fields of Oncology, Clinical Psychology, Medical Sciences, Sociology, Social Work, Psychiatry, Pathology, Bioethics, Palliative Care, Rehabilitation Medicine Anthropology, Biology, Law, and Religious Studies. It would also help in quality decision-making, pain symptom management, bereavement, and practical strategies in addressing psychological needs of cancer patients and their families, offered in an easy-to-use, quick reference format for general readers.