Comforting Interventions Applied to the Adult/Aged Individual at the End of Life in a Hospital Context: Integrative Review

Background: At the end of life, the adult/aged individual experiences suffering and discomfort, resulting, in most cases, in the need to be hospitalized. Thus, the health care requires a multidisciplinary and individualized approach, centred on the promotion of comfort.

Purpose: To identify comforting interventions, in the care of adult/aged individuals at the end of life, considering a hospital context.

Methods: According Whittemore&Knafl, an integrative review of the literature was performed, using the EBSCOhost and RCAAP databases, within the period comprised between 2012 and 2018. The data analysis was conducted according to Morse & Field and Amado.

Results: Among the various ways and means of comforting, we identified 71 comforting interventions, within all the comforting contexts, which were divided in comfort strategies (≈ 89%) and personal moments of comfort (≈ 11%), taking into account the suffering and discomfort of the patient and his/her family. 

Conclusions: Respecting the individual in his/her uniqueness and globality, the provision of comforting care to the hospitalized adult/aged patient at the end of life is achieved through interventions that try to acknowledge the basic and more complex needs, which presupposes flexibility and intentionality when providing care, especially in the field of nursing.

Keywords: Patient Comfort, Hospitalization, Terminal Care, Adult, Aged.