Enhancing Dignity and Hope in Caring for Cancer Patients through Palliative Care, Italy

Enhancing dignity and hope has a positive impact on the quality of life. Palliative care makes this possible in appropriate ways for cancer patients and their families. This chapter deals with the components of these two common dimensions of human life, dignity and hope, and the ways to evaluate and enhance them in care relationships. Dignity is personal, subject to changes depending on the experience and path of life, linked to personal goals and the social, cultural, and educational contexts to which the person belongs. Some patients feel that their dignity is directly related to the disease, such as the management of symptoms (physical and mental pain) and to the high level of autonomy that is maintained—physically, cognitively, and socially. Other patients believe that it is linked more to the continuity of the self, the perception of being oneself in confronting the disease or the possibility of another life after death. The first studies on the dimension of hope were conducted in life-threatening situations; therefore, they found that hope was associated with the person’s ability to find meaning in that particular situation. Later studies investigated the elements that promote the experience of hope, such as feeling loved and giving love, especially within families; having goals (short- and long-term); maintaining as much autonomy as possible (both physical and mental, such as being involved in the process of care and daily decision making); and having a good relationship with health care professionals.