Revisão sistemática da literatura

: instrumentos de avaliação de sintomas em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

The fact that the assessment symptoms instruments’ standardisation in palliative care renders the communication easier and promotes better health care is commonly agreed. In an attempt to add to that standardisation in Portugal, we intend to identify the instruments in palliative care research the most frequently used over the period from February 2000 to February 2014, within the scope of the study of asthenia/fatigue, dyspnoea and cough, and verify if those instruments are validated for the Portuguese population. Method: Regular revision of the literature published in 2014, using the electronic databases Pubmed and EBSCO. Results: Selected 49 assays on asthenia/fatigue. 19 different instruments identified (5 unidimensional, 10 multidimensional and 4 related to quality of life). Selected 31 assays on dyspnoea. 8 different instruments identified (3 unidimensional, 2 multidimensional and 3 on quality of life). Selected 4 assays on cough. 3 different instruments identified (2 multidimensional and 1 on quality of life). Conclusion: As to asthenia/fatigue and to dyspnoea, the majority of the studies used unidimensional assessment instruments, namely the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) respectively. The whole amount of literature pieces on the cough did not unequivocally allow us to draw the same conclusions. As for the validation of the identified instruments for Portugal, there is room for improvement.

Date of Award	17 Jun 2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Manuel Luís Capelas (Supervisor)