BOREDOM

Boredom is a real problem for many patients who remain limited by disability or lack of energy.

The most important aspect of caring for patients with advanced illness, once symptoms are controlled, is helping them to enjoy the time they have left. Patients usually want to go on feeling as useful and independent as possible.

Social activities require the ability to communicate. This depends upon eyesight and hearing.

A new prescription for eyeglasses, or even readjusting a loose frame, can make a difference. A new hearing aid, or repair of an existing one, can help to expand a patient’s world. (In severe deafness, specialized communication equipment should be rented, especially if the patient cannot lip-read.) Even spending some time writing messages down on paper reduces loneliness a bit.

Despite increasing weakness some patients want to continue working. Part-time employment, or employment at home, can often be arranged. Patients may want to remain useful in the home, take up old hobbies, or create something to leave behind. (For example, knitting for an expected baby, or writing a diary for a young child to read later, can be very important activities.) Whenever possible, patients should continue to enjoy social, civic and fraternal affiliations.

Special aids can help the patient to enjoy leisure time. Some hospices use art, music and creative writing as tools. At home, a radio, VCR, stereo or remote-control TV can be helpful, as can a simple reading stand and carefully arranged lighting.

We all need something to look forward to. Day trips, or visits to a day hospice, can break up the monotony of advanced illness. Sometimes a short holiday can be arranged. Narrow horizons are not necessarily boring. Some patients are content with very simple pleasures, like a visit to a nearby shopping mail.

Opportunities for entertainment or creative activities should be encouraged - with the emphasis on “doing” rather than “being done to”.

«  A skillful occupational therapist can sometimes transform the life that is left. (see Occupational Therapy, Quality of Life)

The author and publisher have taken precautions to ensure that the information in this book is error-free. However, readers must be guided by their own personal and professional standards of good practice in evaluating and applying recommendations made herein. The contents of this book represent the views and experience of the author, and not necessarily those of the publisher.