A palliative approach to existential issues and death in end-stage dementia care.
- 1 September 2002
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Palliative Care
- Vol. 18 (3), 168-174
- https://doi.org/10.1177/082585970201800305
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate how, in relation to the palliative philosophy of care, municipal staff caring for patients with dementia deal with existential issues, the dying process, and bereavement follow up with next of kin. Methods: Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were performed and analyzed using a modified phenomenographic method. Results: Those interviewed experienced existential issues as difficult to handle, and they felt lost. Three patterns of answers emerged: 1) attempting to minimize or ignore the issue, 2) pleading, in relation to the patient, that no one has control over issues concerning life and death, and 3) showing affection for the patient. When faced with dying patients, they made things easier for the family, and their goal was that the patient should not be left alone. No systematic bereavement follow up of next of kin occurred. Discussion: Suggestions are made for improving municipal care, and applying palliative care principles for patients dying of dementia.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Change of outlook on elderly persons with dementia: a study of trainees during a year of special educationNurse Education Today, 1999
- Phenomenography — a “good‐for‐nothing brother” of phenomenology? Outline of an analysisHigher Education Research & Development, 1997
- Caregiver depression after bereavement: Chronic stress isn't over when it's over.Psychology and Aging, 1994
- Loss and Grief among Family Caregivers of Relatives with DementiaQualitative Health Research, 1993
- The Bereaved Caregiver: A Prospective Study of Changes in Well-BeingThe Gerontologist, 1992
- The Experience of Bereavement in Caregivers of Family Members With Alzheimer's DiseaseImage: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 1992
- Finding Meaning: An Alternative Paradigm for Alzheimer's Disease Family CaregiversThe Gerontologist, 1991
- A specialized hospice for dementia patients and their familiesAmerican Journal of Hospice Care, 1989
- Mortality after bereavement: a prospective study of 95,647 widowed persons.American Journal of Public Health, 1987
- Bereavement counselling: does it work?BMJ, 1980