Death

Objective: In December 2016, 66 health leaders from 14 countries convened at the Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS) to engage in cross-cultural and collaborative discussions centered on 'Rethinking Care Toward the End of Life'. Conversations focused on global perspectives on death and dying, challenges experienced by researchers, physicians, patients and family caregivers. This paper summarizes key findings and recommendations from SGS.

Objective: Family caregivers of people with dementia often report high levels of stress and depression, but little is known about those who contemplate suicide or self-harm. This study explores thoughts of suicide, self-harm and death in dementia caregivers and investigates the characteristics that distinguish them from those without such thoughts.  Methods: Data were collected every 3 months, for 24 months, from 192 family caregivers of people with dementia living in the Netherlands.

Marie Curie campaigns to ensure that more people are able to be cared for and die at home. Previous research has shown that 63% of people would choose to die at home if they were terminally ill, however the reality in the UK is that just 21% of people die at home, while the majority (53%) die in hospital. This report describes the direct experiences of carers looking after someone at the end of life. It is based on interviews with 40 carers who were currently caring for a sick friend or relative or had been bereaved.

BACKGROUND: Deciding how to treat patients with end-stage dementia developing potentially fatal events has long been contentious. Under expected new legislation the role of carers is likely to increase. Old age psychiatrists frequently have to decide between active or palliative approaches to such patients. Little is known concerning the comparative attitudes of carers and old age psychiatrists. This research examined how their attitudes differed.

This qualitative study was informed by grounded theory and data were gathered primarily through semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirty-seven theoretically sampled former carers. They were all white British, lived in the East Midlands and were predominately over sixty (68 per cent) and female (70 per cent). With the exception of one, all had cared for a close relative, 65 per cent having cared for a partner/spouse. Most of their dependants were older adults and each case the cessation of caring had coincided with the death of the dependant.

Objective: To describe the experiences of illness and needs and use of services in two groups of patients with incurable cancer, one in a developed country and the other in a developing country.

Design: Scotland: longitudinal study with qualitative interviews. Kenya: cross sectional study with qualitative interviews.

Settings: Lothian region, Scotland, and Meru District, Kenya.

This article examines some of the areas covered by a review of the Fatal Accident Inquiry System in Scotland. The review followed the death of Roderick Donnett, a man with Down's syndrome who died whilst living in a care home. The article focuses specifically on key issue for families and carers as well as people with learning disabilities.

Even for patients receiving complex, intensive medical care for serious and life-threatening illness, family caregiving is typically at the core of what sustains patients at the end of life. The amorphous relationship between physicians and the families of patients at the end of life presents both challenges and opportunities for which physicians may be unprepared. Families play important roles in the practical and emotional aspects of patient care and in decision making at the end of life. At the same time, family members may carry significant burdens as a result of their work.

The phenomenon of post-traumatic growth has been explored within the context of HIV disease in only a limited fashion. One hundred and seventy-six bereaved HIV/AIDS carers located all over Canada responded to a questionnaire about their experiences; 51.7% of these individuals were male, 46% were female and 2.3% were transgender. The range of deaths experienced was from 0 to 110. Forty-four per cent of the carers were themselves HIV-positive. Of all the HIV carers in this study, 86.4% of them exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

This study aims to: estimate the costs borne by families caring for patients with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD); to contextualise results to recent initiative; and consider the methodological problems of estimating costs of care. Semi-structured interviews and a follow-up postal questionnaire, eliciting costs to families both before and after the patient's death, were carried out participants included 19 families of patients with vCJD. Cost profiles were constructed, detailing key time and financial costs associated with their relative's illness and death accursing to families.