Articles: palliative-care.
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BMC palliative care · Aug 2020
Experiences of participation in bereavement groups from significant others' perspectives; a qualitative study.
When death ends a life, the impact of caring for person who suffered a period of illness or disease continues for significant others who are left to grieve. They should be offered support to avoid complicated grief. This can be provided in different ways and individually or in groups. This study aims to describe significant others' experiences of participation in bereavement groups. ⋯ Overall, the bereavement groups eased the grief of significant others close to the death of their loved one. However, moving forward, several of the significant others were not sure that their participation eased their grief. To identify persons who may remain in a state of complicated grief, a routine of planned contacts with the bereaved should begin before death and be followed up later than six months after the death of a loved one.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted ongoing challenges to optimal supportive end-of-life care for adults living in long-term care (LTC) facilities. A supportive end-of-life care approach emphasises family involvement, optimal symptom control, multidisciplinary team collaboration and death and bereavement support services for residents and families. Community-based and palliative care specialist physicians who visit residents in LTC facilities play an important role in supportive end-of-life care. Yet, perspectives, experiences and perceptions of these physicians remain unknown. The objective of this study was to explore barriers and facilitators to optimal supportive end-of-life palliative care in LTC through the experiences and perceptions of community-based and palliative specialist physicians who visit LTC facilities. ⋯ Findings reveal that validating families' concerns, having appropriate symptom assessment tools, providing mentorship in palliative care and adapting the physical and social environment to support dying and grieving with dignity facilitates supportive, end-of-life care within LTC.