Supportive-affective group experience for persons with life-threatening illness: reducing spiritual, psychological, and death-related distress in dying patients

Attention to psycho-socio-spiritual needs is considered critical by patients with life-threatening illnesses and their caregivers. Palliative care interventions that address these needs--particularly spirituality--are lacking. To evaluate the effects of an innovative program to address psycho-socio-spiritual needs in patients with life-threatening illnesses. A group intervention entitled Life-Threatening Illness Supportive-Affective Group Experience (LTI-SAGE) was developed for reducing patient spiritual, emotional, and death-related distress. African American and Caucasian patients (n = 69) from two hospitals in St. Louis, Missouri, with life-threatening medical conditions (cancer; human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome [HIV/AIDS]; geriatric frailty; liver, kidney, pulmonary, or cardiovascular disease) were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Intervention patients participated in a maximum of 12 LTI-SAGE groups over a 12-month period. Control patients received standard care. Outcome measures were depression symptoms, anxiety, spiritual well-being, and death-related emotional distress. After attrition, 51 (73.9%) patients completed the trial. At the end of the trial, after factoring in compliance, intervention patients had significantly fewer depression symptoms and death-related feelings of meaninglessness and significantly better spiritual well-being than did control patients. The use of the LTI-SAGE model for enhancing the end-of-life illness experience is promising.