Påverkan av fysisk aktivitet på patienter med fatigue inom palliativ vård : EN LITTERATURÖVERSIKT

Sammanfattning: Background: Palliative care is initiated when a patient suffers from incurable disease. The care aims to improve or maintain the quality of life experienced by the patient and relatives. A common symptom in palliative care is fatigue. Fatigue means tiredness that does not improve by rest. Many patients experience fatigue as a very difficult symptom to handle. Physical activity means muscle work that leads to increased energy consumption. Measures that the patient single handedly can perform is called self-care. Self-care aims to increase health or prevent illness. Physical activity can be a form of self-care and it is considered important to investigate whether it can alleviate the inconvenience of fatigue. Aim: The aim of the literature review was to examine the impact of physical activity on patients with fatigue in palliative care. Method: The literature review is performed according to the method description by Friberg (2017). Data collection was carried out in the electronic databases CINAHL Complete and PubMed. The analysis of data was structurally performed and resulted in three categories. Results: Physical activity during palliative care may reduce the experience of fatigue. The result indicates other positive effects in terms of improved mobility, increased energy, reduced pain, improved quality of sleep and improvement, or prevention of deterioration of quality of life. The result suggests that it can be difficult to balance the amount of physical activity with rest. Discussion: The method discussion discusses the methodological strengths and weaknesses of the literature review. The result discussion discusses the main findings of the literature review in relation to previous knowledge. Orem's theory is applied as a theoretical reference frame.