Support given by health professionals before and after a patient’s death to relatives involved in general palliative care at home in Sweden: Findings from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care
- Post by: Elina Mikaelsson Midlov
- 25 April, 2024
- No Comment
Abstract
Objectives. General palliative care (PC) is provided more at home, leading to increased
involvement of relatives. Although support for relatives is a fundamental component of PC,
there are deficiencies in the support provided to relatives when general PC is provided at home.
This study aimed to describe the support provided by health professionals before and after a
patient’s death to relatives involved in general PC at home.
Methods. A cross-sectional register study was implemented, with data from the Swedish
Register of Palliative care. The sample consisted of 160 completed surveys from relatives
who had been involved in general PC at home, with 160 related surveys answered by health
professionals. Only the questions about support to relatives were used from the surveys.
Results. The findings showed that although many relatives appear to receive support in general
PC at home, not all relatives receive optimal support before or after a patient’s death. The
findings also indicated differences in whether relatives received some support before and after
a patient’s death depending on the type of relative. There were also differences in responses
between health professionals and relatives regarding if relatives received counseling from a
doctor about whether the patient was dying.
Significance of results. There is potential for improvements regarding support for relatives,
especially after a patient’s death, which has been confirmed in previous studies. The differences
in whether relatives received support before and after a patient’s death depending on the type
of relative highlight the need for future research on how to support different types of relatives
before and after a patient’s death when general PC is provided at home.
Keywords
Home care; palliative care; relatives; support
Reference
Link
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478951523001323