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Show COLLEGE OF SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE HOSPICE NURSES' COMMUNICATION: PREDICTIONS FROM MINDFULNESS AND STRESS Hairin Kim (Maija Reblin, Lee Ellington, Margaret F. Clayton) Department of Psychology, College of Nursing University of Utah In recent years, h o m e hospice care has become more popular in the US (Teno et al, 2012) meaning that home hospice nurses are becoming more valuable. Given their difficult role, finding nurse characteristics that may predict success is important. O n e factor that is important to consider in h o m e hospice care is communication. Mindfulness and stress level are important factors that may affect nurses'communication with their patients. Mindful people tend to be more sensitive to context (Langer, 2012), suggesting a hospice nurse may focus more on the psychosocial or existential aspects of hospice care. Provider burnout and stress have also been shown to impact patient-provider communication (Ratanawongsa, 2008), perhaps leading them to focus only on symptom management. The purpose of this study is to determine h o w nurse mindfulness and stress may impact the topics of conversation in home hospice visits. As part of a larger study, self-report data was gathered from hospice nurses, including life stress, nursing stress, mindfulness, burnout and spirituality. Communication during h o m e hospice visits was digitally recorded and the amount of time spent talking about physical, psychosocial, or spiritual topics was identified. The data were analyzed descriptively and using linear regression, controlling for nursing experience. Participants were 26 female hospice nurses from 5 local hospices. Three randomly-selected visits were analyzed per nurse. Therefore, a total of 78 taped visits with 26 patients were analyzed. There was no significant relationship between nurses' level of mindfulness, spirituality, or stress and the amount of psychosocial, physical, or spiritual talk (p< .23) All nurses had high levels of physical talk and relatively low levels of spiritual and psychosocial talk. Results suggest that psychosocial and existential talk were low, regardless of nurse stress or mindfulness. To increase overall amount of psychosocial and spiritual talk that is recommended (Dahlin, 2009), communication training programs for hospice nurses similar to training for oncology nurses (Lange-witz, Heydrich, Niibling, Szirt, Weber & Grossman, 2010) m a y be needed. Acknowledgement: National Cancer Institute Program Project Grant (P01 CA138317-01A1) Hairin Kim Maija Reblin 95 |