DYING, DEATH, AND GRIEF--INTERNET PROJECT

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Health care provider education in the needs of the dying cancer patient and the bereaved family is necessary for compassionate palliative care. In spite of efforts to include death education through traditional medical and nursing curriculae, serious gaps remain the preparation of health care providers for the need of cancer and their families at the time of dying. We propose to use the wide, immediate, and flexible access to information possible through the Internet to provide an innovative outreach program in palliative medicine education. In this project, Cambridge Pragmatics, one of the nation's leading Internet and CD-ROM publishers, will collaborate with the multi-disciplinary faculty of the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center Program in Palliative Medicine and Eduction at Northwestern University. In this effort, we will extend the reach of Northerwestern's curriculum in palliative care to a national and international audience of health care professionals. The clinically relevant curriculum will address the complex medical, psychological, social, religious, cultural, and ethical dimensions of dying, death and bereavement. Physicians, nurses, allied health providers and students will gain access to the following program features: 1) a central guide to orient the user to the program; 2) four core modules on palliative care (palliative care; culture, religion, and spirituality; psychology of death, dying, and grief; ethical and legal considerations in end-of-life decisions); 3) a discussion group moderated by experts in hospice and palliative medicine; 4) hypertext links to other resources on dying, death, grief, and palliative care; 5) a frequently asked question page (FAQ); and 6) downloadable documents (research reports, briefs, bibliographies). Our project development will include four studies to evaluate the curriculum and its Internet delivery. In the first, we will conduct a series of key informant interviews and focus groups to develop and test a preliminary version of the product. In the second, we will evaluate site use through a study of daily visits to the site. In the third, we will examine user satisfaction with the site according to user characteristics. In the fourth, we will evaluate change in knowledge and attitudes among continuing education users of the site.