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Indian Journal of Cancer Education and Research

Volume  9, Issue 1, January-June 2021, Pages 25-31
 

Original Article

Near Death Experience in Terminally III Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study

Near Death Experience in Terminally III Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study

1,2,3Registrar, 6Assistant Professor, 7Professor & Head, Department of Radiation Oncology, 4Professor & Head, 5Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences and PGI, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453555, India.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/ijcer.2321.9815.9121.3

Abstract

Introduction: Near death experience (NDE) is usually profound and unusual experience mostly reporte dtobeexperiencedinpeopleatterminalillnessstages.Thispersonalexperienceisusually associated with death or impending death. Various studies have been reported in this regard. Cancerdiagnosisitselfbeingaharrowingexp erienceowingtoitsprognosisandpoorlycontrolled pain,functionaldeclineandconfusionusuallydistressesthepatient. Andinitsterminalstagesthe patient is likely to experience nearing death. Material and Methods: Questionnaire based observational study using Greyson NDE score for assessing near death experience in terminally ill cancer patient conducted from January 2019 to May 2020. Descriptive statistics was used for correlationofNDEwithclinicalandsociodemographicparametersandpvalue of lessthan0.05was considered as statistically significant. We divided cases on the basis of mean NDE score of 4.92 into two groups ≤ 4.92 (low NDE score) and > 4.92 (high NDE score) for statisticalanalysis. Observation and Results: We identified 5.0 terminally ill cancer patients with mean age of 51.48 years and age range from 17 years to 82 years. Most were between 46 to 55 years of age. There waspreponderanceofmalepatients. WefoundmeanNDEscoreof4.92withmostofcaseshaving low NDE score of ≤ 4.92 (28/50). Higher NDE score was seen among females (81.2%), Christian religion (50%), widowed (87.5%) and ovarian/cervical carcinoma cases (100%). There was statistically significant correlation of NDE score with gender (p=0.0005), maritalstatus (p=0.009) and primary tumor diagnosis (p=0.008). Conclusion: In accordance with the treatment process of the cancer patient there is need to also look into his mental health also. The mental stress the patient is going through should not be undermined rather should be timely assessed and intervened as required. There must be counselling facility and psychosocial support for all terminally ill patient to improve their quality of life.

Keywords: Near Death Experience; Terminally III; Cancer Patients


Corresponding Author : Virendra Bhandari