Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Kuai In Tam, Sok Leng Che, Mingxia Zhu, Sok Man Leong
Summary: This study explored the preferred place of care and death for Chinese residents in Macao. The majority of respondents preferred to be cared for at home in the last 6 months, but only a small proportion preferred to die at home. A significant number of respondents chose hospices or hospitals as their preferred place of death. The study suggests the need for palliative home care services in Macao and emphasizes the importance of education for healthcare professionals.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Omar M. Khraisat, Ahmad M. Al-Bashaireh, Raed Khafajeh, Ola Alqudah
Summary: This study investigated the experiences of nurses providing care for terminally ill neonates and their educational needs for neonatal palliative care in a tertiary center in Saudi Arabia. The results showed that most nurses had insufficient experience in neonatal palliative care and lacked education in this area. Therefore, it is crucial to include education on neonatal palliative care in nursing staff training programs to enhance the quality of care.
Article
Oncology
Fur-Hsing Wen, Wen-Chi Chou, Ming-Mo Hou, Po-Jung Su, Wen-Chi Shen, Jen-Shi Chen, Wen-Cheng Chang, Mei Huang Hsu, Siew Tzuh Tang
Summary: Caregivers' death preparedness states, determined by cognitive prognostic awareness and emotional preparedness, are associated with bereavement outcomes. Cognitive awareness and emotional preparation play important roles in caregivers' adjustment to bereavement.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Annelieke Driessen, Erica Borgstrom, Simon Cohn
Summary: In recent years, policies have encouraged patients to choose their place of death, with a focus on dying at home. However, there is a tendency to simplify the concept of preferred place of death as a static geographical location, overlooking the continuous efforts of palliative care teams to create suitable environments for the dying process.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Danai Papadatou, Vasiliki Kalliani, Eleni Karakosta, Panagiota Liakopoulou, Myra Bluebond-Langner
Summary: The study found that parents make decisions about end-of-life care and death for their child through consensus, accommodation, imposition of professional decisions, or imposition of parents' decisions. Factors influencing these decisions include awareness of dying, parental caregiving competence, professional competence, views on symptom management, timing of decision-making, and the desire to be seen as a 'good parent'. Supporting parents in decision-making includes providing clear and honest information, recognizing their understanding of being 'good parents', and offering opportunities to enhance their caregiving skills.
PALLIATIVE MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Miranda B. Lam, Kristen E. Riley, Jie Zheng, E. John Orav, Ashish K. Jha, Laura G. Burke
Summary: The study explored the use of Healthy Days at Home (HDAH) as a potential measure for cancer patients at the end of life. Results showed that on average, patients had 154.0 HDAH, with males, Medicaid-eligible patients, and patients with hematologic malignancies having fewer adjusted HDAH days.
Article
Oncology
Masanori Mori, Takuhiro Yamaguchi, Isseki Maeda, Yutaka Hatano, Takashi Yamaguchi, Kengo Imai, Ayako Kikuchi, Yosuke Matsuda, Kozue Suzuki, Satoru Tsuneto, David Hui, Tatsuya Morita
Summary: The study aimed to predict death <= 3 days in cancer patients by developing diagnostic models. Recursive partitioning analysis was used on the data set, and cross-validation was performed to develop the model.
Article
Oncology
Yusuke Hiratsuka, Sang-Yeon Suh, Isseki Maeda, Tatsuya Morita, Masanori Mori, Satoko Ito, Tomohiro Nishi, Takayuki Hisanaga, Tetsuji Iriyama, Keisuke Kaneishi, Tomoo Ikari, Keita Tagami, Akira Inoue
Summary: This study explored factors associated with spiritual well-being among palliative care patients in Japan. Seven variables were found to be significantly related to worse spiritual well-being, including worse spiritual well-being on admission, younger age, hyperactive delirium, expressed wish for hastened death, poor communication among patients and families, pleural effusion, and unmarried marital status. Further research is needed to investigate factors associated with patient-reported spiritual well-being.
SUPPORTIVE CARE IN CANCER
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Emanuela Scarpi, Oriana Nanni, Marco Maltoni
Summary: Accurate prediction of survival is crucial in a palliative care setting. The Palliative Prognostic (PaP) score has been developed to assign patients to different risk groups based on 30-day survival probability. This study focused on developing and validating a PaP nomogram for individualized prediction of survival at 15, 30, and 60 days. The nomogram showed good performance and calibration, making it a valuable tool for end-of-life care decision-making.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Femmy M. Bijnsdorp, Allard J. van der Beek, H. Roeline W. Pasman, Cecile R. L. Boot, Alice H. de Boer, Inger Plaisier, Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen
Summary: This study examined the situation and experiences of family caregivers of terminally ill patients at home, with a focus on comparing those with and without paid work. The results showed that working caregivers had more care tasks and shared these tasks with others more often. Non-working caregivers provided care more frequently because the care recipient wanted their help or there was no one else available. About 70% of working caregivers were able to successfully balance work and family caregiving.
BMJ SUPPORTIVE & PALLIATIVE CARE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Emily Scheinfeld, Pamela K. Lake
Summary: This study explores how adult children talk to their parents about end of life, death, and dying, identifying six themes: protection, meeting needs, guilt and regret, control, family dynamics, and communication type. These themes are believed to be helpful in developing a quantitative scale for further study on end of life and practical in assisting adult children cope after the death of their parent.
OMEGA-JOURNAL OF DEATH AND DYING
(2021)
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Julia Treml, Viktoria Schmidt, Michaela Nagl, Anette Kersting
Summary: The study found that high levels of pre-loss grief and low levels of preparedness for death were associated with poor post-loss adjustment.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Li Weng, Yizhen Hu, Zhijia Sun, Canqing Yu, Yu Guo, Pei Pei, Ling Yang, Yiping Chen, Huaidong Du, Yuanjie Pang, Yan Lu, Junshi Chen, Zhengming Chen, Bin Du, Jun Lv, Liming Li
Summary: China is facing the challenge of an ageing population without sufficient end-of-life care services. This study revealed that a significant proportion of deaths in China occur at home, with many individuals returning home to die shortly after being discharged from the hospital. The phenomenon of going home to die is more common among beneficiaries of Urban and Rural Residents' Basic Medical Insurance compared to beneficiaries of Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance. These findings highlight the inequalities in end-of-life care utilization.
LANCET REGIONAL HEALTH-WESTERN PACIFIC
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Corinna Vossius, Sverre Bergh, Geir Selbaek, Bjorn Lichtwarck, Janne Myhre
Summary: This study investigated the cause and place of death in nursing home residents in Norway. Dementia is one of the main causes of death in nursing home residents. Inappropriate hospital referrals are comparatively rare, but further research is needed to explore whether appropriate end-of-life care is provided according to residents' preferences.
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Sasha Shepperd, Daniela C. Goncalves-Bradley, Sharon E. Straus, Bee Wee
Summary: The evidence suggests that home-based end-of-life care programs can increase the likelihood of patients dying at home. However, the impact of home-based end-of-life care on patient outcomes, symptom control, caregiver satisfaction, and healthcare costs remains uncertain.
COCHRANE DATABASE OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
(2021)