Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Apr 2023
ReviewSerious health-related suffering experienced by children with disability and their families living in Bangladesh: A scoping review.
In 2020, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care redefined palliative care to incorporate the concept of serious health-related suffering. An estimated 21 million children globally live with conditions which would benefit from a palliative approach to relieve suffering. Bangladesh is a lower-middle income country with isolated provision of palliative care. ⋯ Findings document the extensive nature and burden of serious childhood health-related suffering that may be remediated by a palliative approach. They highlight the urgent need to prioritise service development and research in this area.
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Palliative medicine · Apr 2023
'Sadly I think we are sort of still quite white, middle-class really' - Inequities in access to bereavement support: Findings from a mixed methods study.
Voluntary and community sector bereavement services are central to bereavement support in the UK. ⋯ Service providers report inequities in access to bereavement support. Attention needs to be paid to identifying, assessing and meeting unmet needs for appropriate bereavement support. Identified positive interventions can inform service provision and research.
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Palliative medicine · Apr 2023
ReviewPalliative and end-of-life care needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness: A systematic mixed-methods review.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) individuals experience discrimination throughout the care continuum, including during serious illness and at end of life. High-quality palliative care requires that health professionals deliver individualized services that reflect the needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ persons. ⋯ The robustness of the science has improved regarding the needs, experiences, and preferences of trans individuals. Actionable, inclusive policies coupled with sustained and integrated cultural sensitivity training for health workers are mandatory. Interventional research is critical to enhance tailored palliative care for LGBTQ+ people and their chosen families.
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Palliative medicine · Apr 2023
ReviewPalliative care for people who use drugs during communicable disease epidemics and pandemics: A scoping review on access, policies, and programs and guidelines.
People who use drugs with life-limiting illnesses experience substantial barriers to accessing palliative care. Demand for palliative care is expected to increase during communicable disease epidemics and pandemics. Understanding how epidemics and pandemics affect palliative care for people who use drugs is important from a service delivery perspective and for reducing population health inequities. ⋯ Our findings underscore the need for further research about how best to provide palliative care for people who use drugs during epidemics and pandemics. We suggest four ways that health systems can be better prepared to help alleviate the structural barriers that limit access as well as support the provision of high-quality palliative care during future epidemics and pandemics.
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Palliative medicine · Apr 2023
Bureaucracy and burden: An Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis of social welfare policy with consequences for carers of people with life-limiting illness.
For informal carers of people with life-limiting illness, social welfare policy related to income support and housing has been associated with varied psychosocial issues, yet remains relatively under-explored. An intersectional approach offers potential to illuminate diverse experiences and implications. ⋯ This intersectional analysis establishes critical exploration of the framing and consequences of welfare policy for carers of people with life-limiting illness, presented in a novel conceptual model. Implications relate to intersectoral development of structural competency, responsiveness to structurally vulnerable carers in clinical practice, and needed policy changes.