Palliative patients' and their significant others' experiences of transitions concerning organizational, psychosocial and existential issues during the course of incurable cancer: a systematic review protocol

Review question/objective The objective of this review is to identify, appraise and synthesize the best available evidence exploring palliative patients’ or their significant others’ experiences of transitions during the course of incurable cancer. In this review, transitions are conceptualized as experiences concerning organizational, psychosocial and existential issues. More specifically, the review question is: What kinds of transitions do palliative patients and their significant others experience during the course of incurable cancer; in particular experiences relating to transitions concerning organizational, psychosocial and existential issues? Inclusion criteria Types of participants This review will consider studies that include adults aged 18 years and above who are suffering from incurable cancer and/or significant others (current or bereaved) of a person who is suffering has suffered from incurable cancer. Types of intervention(s)/phenomena of interest This review will consider studies that investigate experiences of organizational, psychosocial, or existential transitions during the course of incurable cancer. Context The course of incurable cancer. Studies exploring euthanasia will be excluded because euthanasia is not included in the WHO definition of palliation.