Introduction: Talking about death and dying is evoking discomfort in many persons, resulting in avoidance of this topic. However, end-of-life discussions can alleviate distress and uncertainties in both old and young adults, but only a minority uses this option in palliative care. Even in healthy populations, talking about death is often seen as alleviative and worthwhile, but rarely initiated. Objective: To investigate different psychological interventions (a) encouraging the readiness for end-of-life discussions and (b) changing death attitudes in healthy adults of different ages. Methods: 168 participants were randomized to four different interventions (IG1: value-based intervention with end-of-life perspective, IG2: motivation-based intervention with end-of-life perspective, IG3: combination of IG1 and IG2, CG: control group). Primary outcome was the readiness to engage in end-of-life topics. Secondary outcomes were fear of death, fear of dying and death acceptance. Assessments took place before, directly after the intervention and at 2 weeks of follow up. Results: IG2 and IG3 reported significantly more changes in the readiness to engage in end-of-life discussions than the CG (F[5.61, 307] = 4.83, p #x3c; 0.001, ηp² = 0.081) directly after the intervention. The effect of IG3 remained stable at the follow-up. There were no significant effects of the interventions on end-of-life fears or death acceptance. Acceptability of the interventions was very high. Conclusions: Short interventions can be useful to encourage end-of-life discussions and could be integrated in health care programs. The efficacy and effectiveness of these short interventions in palliative patients are currently examined.
Psychother Psychosom

中文翻译：

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生死攸关的问题：一项调查心理干预以鼓励为临终谈话做好准备的实验研究

简介：谈论死亡和临终会让很多人感到不适，从而回避这个话题。然而，临终讨论可以减轻老年人和年轻人的痛苦和不确定性，但只有少数人在姑息治疗中使用这种选择。即使在健康人群中，谈论死亡也常常被视为缓解和值得的，但很少主动提出。目标：调查不同的心理干预措施（a）鼓励不同年龄的健康成年人为临终讨论做好准备和（b）改变死亡态度。方法：168 名参与者被随机分配到四种不同的干预措施（IG1：基于价值的临终干预，IG2：基于动机的临终干预，IG3：IG1 和 IG2 的组合，CG：对照组） . 主要结果是准备好参与临终主题。次要结果是对死亡的恐惧、对死亡的恐惧和对死亡的接受。评估发生在干预前、干预后和随访 2 周时。结果：与 CG 相比，IG2 和 IG3 报告了参与临终讨论的准备程度显着更多的变化（F [5.61, 307] = 4.83, p #x3c; 0.001, η p ²= 0.081) 直接干预后。IG3的效果在随访中保持稳定。干预措施对临终恐惧或死亡接受没有显着影响。干预的可接受性非常高。结论：短期干预有助于鼓励临终讨论，并可以纳入医疗保健计划。目前正在检查这些短期干预对姑息患者的疗效和有效性。
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