Date of Award
Summer 8-22-2015
Document Type
Doctoral Research Paper
Degree Name
Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology
Organizational Unit
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Nicole Taylor
Second Advisor
Judy Fox
Third Advisor
Teri Simoneau
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Keywords
Dignity therapy, Bone marrow transplant, Allogeneic, Psychosocial oncology, Terminal illness
Abstract
Dignity Therapy is a relatively novel therapeutic intervention designed to address psychosocial and existential distress among those facing life threatening circumstances. This narrative psychotherapy approach invites patients to reflect and speak about issues that are most important to them and hopes to elicit feelings of purposefulness and autonomy, characteristics that are typically waning when nearing end of life. Dignity Therapy consists of a ten question semi-structured interview designed to integrate themes of accomplishments and sources of pride, things that may feel unsaid, and/or particular lessons or wisdom that the patient hopes to pass on to loved ones. The interview is transcribed, edited with the patient, and provided as a typed “generativity document” to the patient. Dignity Therapy has been empirically validated to lessen symptoms of existential distress in various terminally ill populations. In this pilot study, the dignity therapy intervention was implemented with five members of a novel patient population; those who have undergone an allogeneic blood or marrow stem cell transplant following a diagnosis of blood cancer. These participants engaged in the Dignity Therapy intervention and then filled out a brief feedback questionnaire. It is our hope that this pilot study will serve as a feasibility study to identify if this intervention will be acceptable and meaningful to this novel patient population.
Copyright Date
6-29-2015
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Emily Newman
Provenance
Received from Author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
74 pgs
File Size
748 KB
Recommended Citation
Newman, Emily, "Living with Dignity: A Pilot Study Implementing Dignity Therapy with Allogeneic Blood or Marrow Transplant Recipients" (2015). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 18.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/18