Textbook of Palliative Care Communication

The Textbook of Palliative Care Communication is the authoritative text on communication in palliative care, providing a compilation of international and interdisciplinary perspectives. This volume was uniquely developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team to address an array of providers including physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains, and it unites clinicians with academic researchers interested in the study of communication. By featuring practical conversation and curriculum tools stemming from research, this text integrates scholarship and inquiry into translatable content that others can use to improve their practice, teach skills to others, and engage in patient-centered communication. The volume begins by defining communication, explicating debatable issues in research, and highlighting specific approaches to studying communication in a palliative care context. Chapters focus on health literacy and cultural communication, patient and family communication, barriers and approaches to discussing palliative care with specific patient populations, pain, life support, advance care planning, and quality of life topics such as sexuality, spirituality, hope, and grief. Team communication in various care settings is outlined, and current research and education for healthcare professionals are summarized. Unique to this volume are chapters on conducting communication research, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to promote further research in palliative care.

Elaine Wittenberg is an Associate Professor of Nursing Research and Education at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California.

Betty R. Ferrell is a Professor and the Director of Nursing Rearch and Education at City of Hope National Medical Center in Durate, California.

Joy Goldsmith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee.

Thomas Smith is the Director of Palliative Medicine and Professor of Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sandra L. Ragan is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.

Myra Glajchen is the Director of Medical Education at the MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care and an Assistant Professor of Family and Social Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York.

George Handzo is the Director of Health Services, Research, and Quality at Healthcare Chaplaincy in New York, New York.