"Hospice Care Decreases Depression Symptoms In Surviving Spouses, Study Finds"
Patients being placed in hospice care aren’t the only ones eligible to receive services. Family members can also benefit from the wide range of medical, spiritual and emotional resources being offered by a palliative care facility. A new study took a look at the spouses of seriously ill patients and found that hospice care can positively impact their mental health even after the passing of their loved one. Published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal, the report examined depressive symptoms in surviving spouses of patients with a variety of serious illnesses. “We are seeing some benefits for surviving spouses in terms of a decrease in depressive symptoms after death relative to spouses of those who did not use hospice,” said Katherine Ornstein, PhD, MPH, professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “These differences are even more substantial one year after death.” Learn more.