Palliative care

Objectives To evaluate: (1) to what extent family carers of people supported by specialised palliative care services felt they had been provided with information, support and aftercare and (2) how this varied by type of palliative care service, length of enrolment and characteristics of deceased. Methods A cross-sectional postal survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire with nine items on information, support and aftercare provided by specialised palliative care services to family carers.

The aim of this study was to analyze the perceptions and experiences of relatives of patients dying from a terminal disease with regard to the care they received during the dying process, considering the oncological or non-oncological nature of the terminal disease, and the place where care was provided (at home, emergency department, hospital room, or palliative care unit).

Background: Caring at end-of-life is associated with financial burden, economic disadvantage, and psychosocial sequelae. Health and social welfare systems play a significant role in coordinating practical resources and support in this context. However, little is known about social policy and interactions with public institutions that shape experiences of informal carers with social welfare needs at end-of-life.

Background: For most people, the last 12 months of life are spent living in the community, with the support of family and friends for a number of caregiving functions. Previous research has found that managing medicines is challenging for caregivers. Currently there is little information describing which caregivers may struggle with tasks associated with managing a loved one's medicines. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify factors that flag caregivers who are likely to experience problems when managing someone else's medications.

Purpose: Several validated outcome measures, among them the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), are valid for measuring caregiver burden in advanced cancer and dementia. However, they have not been validated for a wider palliative care (PC) setting with non-cancer disease. The purpose was to validate ZBI-1 (ultra-short version and proxy rating) and ZBI-7 short versions for PC.

Background: Inadequately managed pain is a serious problem for patients with cancer and those who care for them.

Purpose Many individual and family hardships are associated with poorly understood palliative care needs arising from advanced dementia within India. The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of people in India affected by advanced dementia and to shape educational approaches for practitioners and the local community. Design/methodology/approach Three focus groups with family carers of people (n = 27) with advanced dementia were undertaken with local communities in South India.

Objective: To know the development of the scientific evidence on the uncertainty towards the disease of family caregivers of patients in palliative care. Materials and methods: A descriptive scoping review. A search was conducted in the Embase, ScienceDirect, Medline, Academic Search Complete, Scopus databases, during the 2000-2019 period. The following MeSH terms were used: uncertainty, palliative care, end of life, nursing and caregiver. Fifty articles were selected after the criticism process.

Purpose To identify transitional palliative care (TPC) interventions for older adults with non-malignant chronic diseases and complex conditions. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the literature was conducted. CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase and Pubmed databases were searched for studies reporting TPC interventions for older adults, published between 2002 and 2019. The Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool was used for quality appraisal. Findings A total of six studies were included.

Background: Constipation is a major problem for many older adults, more so for those who are receiving specialist palliative care. However, limited research reports the subjective experiences of constipation, despite evidenced differences between the healthcare professional and patient/carer perspective. Aim: The main aim of this study is to explore the experience of how constipation is assessed and managed within specialist palliative care from the patient, carer and healthcare professional perspective.