College of Nursing Palliative Care Research Team Present at Annual Conference
Kent State University College of Nursing research faculty members Pamela Stephenson, Ph.D., RN, AOCNS, Dana Hansen, Ph.D., ACHPN, APRN, and Denice Sheehan, Ph.D. MSN, RN, presented their palliative care research findings at Hospice of the Western Reserve's annual conference “Telling the Stories: The Deeper Voice of Hospice” on Friday, Sept. 16.
The conference focused on the importance of conversations that address the goals of care and how to overcome barriers. Healthcare providers learned how a patient or family member’s spiritual distress, mental illness and grief may affect these conversations.
Sheehan, along with M. Murray Mayo, RN, APRN, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Breen School of Nursing at Ursuline College, described how adolescents communicate with friends, parents and healthcare providers when they have a parent in hospice care. Stephenson and Hansen identified how spirituality is communicated at the end of life.
