Journal of social work in end-of-life & palliative care
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2016
Allowing Family to be Family: End-of-Life Care in Veterans Affairs Medical Foster Homes.
The Medical Foster Home program is a unique long-term care program coordinated by the Veterans Health Administration. The program pairs Veterans with private, 24-hour a day community-based caregivers who often care for Veterans until the end of life. ⋯ A case study, qualitative content analysis identified these themes addressing care coordination and impact of the Medical Foster Home model on those involved: (a) Medical Foster Home program supports Veterans' families; (b) Medical Foster Home program supports the caregiver as family; (c) Veterans' needs are met socially and culturally at the end of life; and (d) the changing needs of Veterans, families, and caregivers at Veterans' end of life are addressed. Insights into how to best support Medical Foster Home caregivers caring for Veterans at the end of life were gained including the need for more and better respite options and how caregivers are compensated in the month of the Veteran's death, as well as suggestions to navigate end-of-life care coordination with multiple stakeholders involved.
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2016
A Cross-Sectional Examination of the Association Between Dyspnea and Distress as Experienced by Palliative Home Care Clients and Their Informal Caregivers.
This study examined the association between dyspnea and distress as experienced by both palliative home care clients and their informal caregivers as a unit of care. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted using the interRAI Palliative Care Assessment database. Responses from 6,655 individual palliative home care clients across six regional jurisdictions in Ontario, Canada were included. ⋯ When indicators of caregiver distress and client distress were combined, 53% of the caregiver-client units exhibited distress. Social work practitioners should include a focus on distress within the care unit as a priority when care planning to meet the needs of persons nearing the end of life. Members of the care team should consider available treatment and management options tailored to meet both the client and their informal caregiver's needs.
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2016
Coping with a Terminal Diagnosis: Perspectives from Inside the Patient's Home.
This vignette describes the evolving and intimate relationship between a medical student and his patient, and their shared journey in accepting the patient's terminal diagnosis. The news of her diagnosis touched all parts of her life, and this account explores those effects on a very personal level.