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- Title
Relative's suggestions for improvements in support from health professionals before and after a patient's death in general palliative care at home: A qualitative register study.
- Authors
Midlöv, Elina Mikaelsson; Lindberg, Terese; Skär, Lisa
- Abstract
Introduction: The efforts of relatives in providing palliative care (PC) at home are important. Relatives take great responsibility, face many challenges and are at increased risk of poor physical and mental health. Support for these relatives is important, but they often do not receive the support they need. When PC is provided at home, the support for relatives before and after a patient's death must be improved. This study aimed to describe relatives' suggestions to improve the support from health professionals (HPs) before and after a patient's death in general PC at home. Methods: This study had a qualitative descriptive design based on the data from open‐ended questions in a survey collected from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care. The respondents were adult relatives involved in general PC at home across Sweden. The textual data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The analysis identified four themes: (1) seeking increased access to HPs, (2) needing enhanced information, (3) desiring improved communication and (4) requesting individual support. Conclusions: It is important to understand and address how the support to relatives may be improved to reduce the unmet needs of relatives. The findings of this study offer some concrete suggestions for improvement on ways to support relatives. Further research should focus on tailored support interventions so that HPs can provide optimal support for relatives before and after a patient's death when PC is provided at home.
- Subjects
DEATH &; psychology; PSYCHOLOGY of the terminally ill; HOME care services; PALLIATIVE treatment; QUALITATIVE research; RESEARCH funding; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; THEMATIC analysis; SURVEYS; RESEARCH methodology; SOCIAL support
- Publication
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 2024, Vol 38, Issue 2, p358
- ISSN
0283-9318
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/scs.13239