Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2024
Long-term bereavement outcomes in family members of those who died in acute care hospitals before and during the first wave of COVID-19: A cohort study.
Severe grief is highly distressing and prevalent up to 1 year post-death among people bereaved during the first wave of COVID-19, but no study has assessed changes in grief severity beyond this timeframe. ⋯ Severe grief is a substantial source of psychological morbidity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, persisting more than a year post-death. Our findings highlight an acute need for effective and scalable means of addressing severe grief.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2024
The perspectives of people with dementia and their supporters on advance care planning: A qualitative study with the European Working Group of People with Dementia.
Advance care planning has been defined in an international consensus paper, supported by the European Association for Palliative Care. There are concerns that this definition may not apply to dementia. Moreover, it is not informed by input from people with dementia. ⋯ The perspectives of the European Working Group of People with Dementia and their supporters highlighted the need for a person-centred and dementia-inclusive advance care planning definition. We provide tangible recommendations for future adaptations of the definition that reflect these perspectives.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2024
ReviewPosttraumatic growth in palliative care settings: A scoping review of prevalence, characteristics and interventions.
Posttraumatic growth refers to positive psychological change following trauma. However, there is a need to better understand the experience of posttraumatic growth in the palliative care setting as well as the availability and efficacy of interventions that target this phenomenon. ⋯ Posttraumatic growth is an emerging concept in palliative care where although the number of studies is small, early indications suggest that interventions fostering posttraumatic growth may contribute to improvements in psychological wellbeing in people receiving palliative care.
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Palliative medicine · Feb 2024
Revised European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) recommended framework on palliative sedation: An international Delphi study.
The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) acknowledges palliative sedation as an important, broadly accepted intervention for patients with life-limiting disease experiencing refractory symptoms. The EAPC therefore developed 2009 a framework on palliative sedation. A revision was needed due to new evidence from literature, ongoing debate and criticism of methodology, terminology and applicability. ⋯ This is the first framework on palliative sedation using a strict consensus methodology. It should serve as comprehensive and soundly developed information for healthcare professionals.