Palliative care

Purpose: The disease and treatment trajectory of patients with high-grade glioma is a burdensome period for the patients' closest relatives who become informal caregivers. Caregivers experiencing this demanding shift in role are at risk of developing symptoms such as depression. Few studies have explored the needs and experiences of bereaved caregivers, and there is lack of evidence-based practice.

Background:Caregiver satisfaction and experience surveys help health professionals to understand, measure, and improve the quality of care provided for patients and their families.Objective: Our aim was to explore caregiver perceptions of the care received from Australian specialist palliative care services.Method: Caregivers of patients receiving palliative care in services registered with Australia's Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration were invited to participate in a caregiver survey.

Context:Thousands of family members worldwide are annually involved in assisted dying. Family participation in assisted dying has rarely been investigated and families' needs typically are not considered in assisted dying legislation and clinical guidelines. Objectives: To explore family caregivers' reflections on experiences of assisted suicide in Switzerland. Methods: A cross-sectional qualitative interview study conducted in the Italian- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland.

Background: Health professionals commonly underestimate caregiver needs for information about palliative care, death and dying and may feel poorly prepared to discuss these issues. Few studies have sought caregiver perspectives of these communication practices.

Aim To assess the cultural acceptability and appropriateness of an English end-of-life survey questionnaire translated into Bengali for use in east London.

Study design Group discussions with informal carers (n=3 groups) and professionals (n=1 group).

The experience of being a carer of a person with dementia at the end of life is expressed in these 12 accounts. This is a synthesis of the concerns and challenges for carers at the end of life. These accounts are often insightful and provide several views of carers’ and professionals’ experience. Having a close relationship as a carer gives a unique and poignant view. What emerges from this review is a range of perspectives that provide contrasting views of the heterogeneity of carers and professionals.

Aim.  This paper reports a study exploring the impact of advanced heart failure on the lives of older patients and their informal carers.

Background.  Prognosis is poor in heart failure, with more than a third of patients dying within 12 months of diagnosis, and end-of-life symptoms are distressing and poorly controlled. Although end-of-life care for people with heart failure has received increased attention in recent years, there are still few data on the impact of advanced heart failure on the lives of patients and their informal carers.

Background : Palliative care encompasses physical, psychosocial and spiritual care for patients and caregivers. No population data are available on bereaved people who subsequently report that additional spiritual support would have been helpful.

Despite evidence of negative psychological sequelae and unmet needs, there are few evaluated interventions for informal caregivers in cancer and palliative care. The aim of this article is to debate the strengths and limitations of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other designs that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions. Psycho-educational interventions are used as example for this debate article, as a number of studies of various designs evaluating this type of intervention have been published.