{
  "abstract": "Background Breathlessness is a common symptom amongst palliative care patients, potentially causing distress not only for the patient but for their caregivers too (Johnson, Currow, Booth. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2014;8(2):151-61; Malik, Gysels, Higginson. Palliat Med. 2013;27(7):647-56). Pharmacological options for managing breathlessness are limited, therefore empowering patients with non-pharmacological approaches is important (Ferreira, Kochovska, Brunelli, et al. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2023;17(5):365-379). Hospice staff attended training in the Breathing, Thinking, Functioning (BTF) clinical model (Spathis, Booth, Moffat, et al. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2017 Apr 21;27(1):27), following which patients were referred by our Hospice@Home team or external colleagues to participate in the BTF programme in our hospice Wellbeing Centre.Aims To support patients to challenge negative emotions related to breathlessness and develop effective strategies to manage them.To assess whether the BTF programme improved the severity of negative emotions associated with breathlessness.Method Patients experiencing breathlessness from any cause are referred to a 3-week programme consisting of weekly 1-hour long sessions, following the format designed by the Cambridge Breathlessness Intervention Service (Spathis, Booth, Moffat, et al. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2017 Apr 21;27(1):27). The sessions are led by a Nurse, Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist. One topic per week, including the Breathing Cycle, the Thinking Cycle and medication, and the Functioning Cycle is covered. A baseline questionnaire is completed, exploring the impact of breathlessness on their life, and repeated one month after programme completion to explore the longer-term impact of the programme on emotions associated with breathlessness.Results Since 2023, 128 patients have completed the programme. 73 patients completed both pre- and post-programme questionnaires. Questions relating to the severity of the negative emotions associated with breathlessness demonstrated that the number of patients experiencing severe emotions was reduced following the programme, including those experiencing severe distress (53% to 41%), agitation (13% to 9%) and depression (19% to 9%).Conclusion Our results demonstrate that patients experience an improvement in the negative emotions associated with breathlessness at one month after completing the BTF programme, encouraging us to continue to offer this programme to our patients and other patients experiencing chronic breathlessness.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alice Hospice, Esher, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Laura Yalley-Ogunro"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alice Hospice, Esher, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Sophia Monastirioti"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alice Hospice, Esher, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Rachel White"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P-59 Using the breathing, thinking, functioning model to reduce negative emotions related to breathlessness",
  "uid": "a3ed8a7f-f52f-5046-a40a-6b8c7eb6f71c"
}