Lien Centre for Palliative Care

📱 Supporting dementia caregivers through digital innovation

Caring for a loved one with dementia can be challenging, and caregivers often need support that is timely, personalized, and easy to access.

Our latest study introduces CareBuddy, a mobile app designed with caregivers, for caregivers. Key features include:
🧠 Personalized assessments and tailored caregiving solutions
🤖 An AI-powered chatbot for on-demand support
📍 GPS-based location monitoring for added peace of mind
🤝 Peer support and social networking opportunities
🏥 Telemedicine and healthcare provider integration
💙 Resources to support caregiver well-being and self-care

✨ What did caregivers think?
• High usability and satisfaction ratings during pilot testing
• Positive feedback on dementia care content and caregiver support resources
• Strong appreciation for interactive features, including the AI chatbot and service directory

As we continue evaluating CareBuddy's impact on caregiver outcomes, this work highlights the potential of technology to empower caregivers and enhance dementia care.

📝 Malhotra, C., Yue, Y., Ramakrishnan, C., Shah, S., Chen, W., Yap, P., Cheong, C. Y., Teo, I., Wee, S. L., Lan, X., Chen, Y., Chong, C. S., Huang, X., & Chua, I.

📖 JMIR Aging

🔗 Read the full article for more — link in the comments!

🎉LCPC’s Researcher Spotlight is back!

🌟Today we feature Dr Ellie Andres, Senior Research Fellow and experienced health services researcher with an interest in research to improve care for vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

🔽Read about her journey below!

🔗Interested in reading Dr Ellie’s work? Find more information here: https://www.duke-nus.edu.sg/directory/detail/andres-helen-bostwick

🌟Looking for part-time work in research? This is your chance!

📢 Duke-NUS Medical school is looking for part-time field staff to support a research study examining consumer beverage choices in hawker centres and related beverage outlets.

Responsibilities include:
✅conducting intercept surveys at selected locations
✅engaging members of the public to gauge their interest, obtaining consent, explaining study procedures, and administering brief surveys on a tablet computer.

⚠️Note:
- No prior experience is required.
- Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Singapore.

⏰Duration: Minimum of 15 work hours per week, with flexible scheduling based on availability

📆 Commitment: 3-6 months

💵 Rate: SGD 14 per hour

🔗 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gWQRhKx8

📧If you would like to learn more about the role, feel free to reach out to Linh at [email protected].

🔔Feel free to share this opportunity with students or individuals who may be interested.

🌟Ready to be a leader in the psychosocial care sector?— Registration opens for the Graduate Certificate in Psychosocial Leadership in Serious Illness Care (GC-PLP)!

🔔Introducing the first local, culturally adapted leadership programme combining advanced clinical training with leadership development for psychosocial professionals working with seriously ill patients and their families.

Consisting of 4 courses, you can look forward to:

✅ Developing core leadership competencies: Clinical, team and service leadership, supervisory and system-level leadership
✅ 1:1 mentorship and group supervision
✅ Advanced psychotherapeutic intervention skills (ADAPT Model, CBT, ACT, Narrative Therapy)
✅ Multidisciplinary local and overseas expert faculty
✅ Real-world capstone project to drive change in your workplace
✅ Competitive Study Award for Eligible Participants

🚨If you are a healthcare professional with at least 5 years of experience working with seriously ill patients and families, this programme is for you.

📢 Limited places available.

🔗 More details on our website — scan the QR code or find the link in the comments!

✨ Feel free to save and share the poster with colleagues who may be interested.

🚨Serious Illness Conversations (SIC) @ Singapore Palliative Care Conference (SPCC)— here’s what you missed!

❤️ Healthcare professionals from over 8 different countries and diverse settings brought together by a common goal— improved patient care through person-centred communication.

💻 After the conference, LCPC held a follow-up session online for participants to discuss experiences using the Serious Illness Conversation Guide in their practice.

💭One of our participants, a Palliative Care Doctor from the University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Philippines, recounted a SIC with her patient:

“My patient is a 78-year-old man with known lung cancer stage 4 who was admitted for difficulty of breathing from pneumonia and malignant pleural effusion. A week later when his condition stabilised, he was referred to the palliative care service. Before entering his room on my first visit, I was given the heads up by his daughter that there must be no mention of “cancer” or “advanced stage” to the patient to avoid causing patient distress.

On setting up the conversation (SIC Guide), I asked the patient what he had been told about his condition. He calmly replied that he knew that his cancer had already “gone far” and that he had not much time left. He said that he did not want to suffer like his wife who “had a lot of tubes put into her body at the ICU.” He further stated that in fact he was “ready to go home and enjoy the remaining time of his life without any cancer treatment.”

At the end of the visit, as I was about to leave the room, the patient said: “Thank you very much, doctor. You are the only one among the hospital staff who cared for me as a person, not as a patient only.”

🌟This heartening sharing highlights the power of these conversations. What may appear as a simple question could be the caring gesture that makes all the difference to our patients.

🔗If you would like to be a part of this impact, find out more about the Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG)— link in the comments!

🙏A huge thank you to the speakers and facilitators who made the workshop a success!

A/P Alethea Yee, Dr Gillian Phua, Dr Noreen Chan, Mr Clinton Shi, Ms Jan Koh and Ms Rieka Erina

✨Caring about the carers— foreign domestic workers.

📈Foreign domestic workers are increasingly hired in Singapore as live-in caregivers for patients with advanced cancer. This study aims to explore the experiences of migrant live-in caregivers caring for patients with advanced cancer.

🔎Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore: the challenges and needs of migrant live-in caregivers caring for patients with advanced cancer, what enables their cancer caregiving work, and their motivations.

🔗Want to find out more about this study? Read the full article— link in the comments!

📖 American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine

🖊️Gillian Li Gek Phua, You Kai Poh, Beverly Shu Ong, Jasmine Yun Ting Tan, Audrey Rui Xuan Koh, Grace Meijuan Yang

🖊️Registration for the 52nd LCPC-SHC Postgraduate Course in Palliative Medicine is now open!

e-learning: 30 June to 31 July 2026
Face-to-Face teaching sessions: 15 to 17 July 2026, 8am to 5pm.

🤔Still wondering if you should sign up?

Hear from our course trainer – Dr Prabavathi D/O Balachandran, Associate Consultant from the Department of Supportive and Palliative Care in National Cancer Centre Singapore, on how the course will benefit clinicians in our current healthcare landscape:

“As the number of people living with life-limiting illnesses continues to rise, there is a greater need and awareness for general palliative care to be instituted early.

With speakers spanning from seasoned palliative care specialists to sub-specialty experts and allied health nationwide, this course covers an extensive breadth and sufficient depth to increase the awareness and knowledge in managing general palliative care conditions confidently.”

👐 If you are looking to develop a meaningful understanding of holistic care for patients across their illness trajectory, sign up now and join us in our July run!

🔗 Registrations will be ongoing until 19 June 2026 or when maximum capacity has been attained. Head over to our website via the link in the caption to sign up!

🌃The last year of life— dementia in an Asian setting.

📚Current understanding of the last year of life with dementia is disproportionately informed by studies conducted in western contexts, primarily within long-term care settings. This study examines the last year of life experience for community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers in an Asian setting.

🔎Methods: Using prospective longitudinal cohort data from 125 family caregivers to older adults who have died during the study, they estimate separate random effects regression models to identify factors associated with hospital admissions, medical interventions, care experience, and informal caregiving hours. They also estimate costs associated with informal caregiving hours.

🔗To find out more, read the full article— link in the comments!

📖 The Journals of Gerontology

✍️ Ellie Bostwick Andres, Chetna Malhotra & PISCES Study Group

🧠 What makes early palliative care truly impactful?

The ENABLE-SG (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends) programme supports patients with cancer and their caregivers in building skills for decision-making, communication, and problem-solving.

From interviews with participants, three key insights stood out:
🛠️ Personalisation enhances impact
🤝 Strong relationships matter — the coach–participant bond is central
⏱️ Timing is key — readiness shapes how support is received

These findings point to simple but powerful ways to strengthen early palliative care: make it accessible, build meaningful connections, and introduce support at the right time.

📝 Tan, A. J. Q., Low, E. S. Q. Y., Yu, K., Natesan, N., Yeo, S. M., Kok, H. S. C., Bakitas, M., Odom, J. N., & Yang, G. M.

📖 Journal of Palliative Medicine

🔗 Read the full article for more — link in the comments!

🔎What do people actually want at the end of life— and why does our healthcare system so often deliver the opposite?

✨Associate Professor Chetna Malhotra, LCPC’s Deputy Director of Research, joins episode 128 of The Waiting Room Revolution podcast to discuss advance care planning (ACP).

🌟Here is what you can look forward to:
- What matters most at end of life for people in Singapore (hint: comfort and home often outrank “doing everything”)
- The mismatch between people’s wishes and what actually happens in hospitals
- Why a major ACP trial didn’t change outcomes and what that taught A/P Malhotra
- How culture, family decision-making, and religion shape conversations about serious illness
- A new way to see ACP: not as one big decision, but as an ongoing process of preparing patients and families for real-time decisions
- How digital tools and caregiver-focused supports can help people navigate complex systems, especially in dementia and kidney failure

🔔You will not want to miss this insightful conversation!

🔗Listen to the full podcast— link in the comments!