Facing death alone and in isolation: A phenomenological study with survivors of COVID-19.

During the early waves of COVID-19, many patients had to be isolated, with some dying alone in hospitals. Understanding the psychological impact of isolation during a potentially life-threatening disease and identifying coping mechanisms can inform future care protocols. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of COVID-19 survivors isolated in hospitals.

The Wish to Hasten Death in Patients With Life-Limiting Conditions. A Systematic Overview.

Context: A systematic review of the wish to hasten death among people with life-limiting conditions was published in 2011. Since then, other reviews and primary studies have been published that have added to knowledge regarding the conceptual definition, aetiology and assessment of the wish to hasten death.

Objectives: To provide an updated synthesis of the literature on the wish to hasten death in people with life-limiting conditions.

End-of-life conversations about death and dying from volunteer perspectives: A qualitative study.

Objectives: Although often unrecognized, volunteers fulfill many essential roles in hospices and other end-of-life care settings. Volunteers complement the actions of professionals in fulfilling many extra care needs, such as delivering newspapers and tidying bedsides. We explored end-of-life conversations about death and dying between hospice volunteers and terminally ill people, with a particular emphasis on any expressed desire to die.

Definition and validation of the nursing diagnosis label "wish to die": a research protocol.

Background: Euthanasia has been incorporated into the health services of seven countries. The legalisation of these practices has important repercussions for the competences of nurses, and it raises questions about their role. When a patient with advanced disease expresses a wish to die, what is expected of nurses? What are the needs of these patients, and what kind of care plan do they require? What level of autonomy might nurses have when caring for these patients? The degree of autonomy that nurses might or should have when it comes to addressing such a wish and caring for these patients has yet to be defined.

Development of a Guide to Multidimensional Needs Assessment in the Palliative Care Initial Encounter (MAP).

Context: Ensuring patient-centered palliative care requires a comprehensive assessment of needs beginning in the initial encounter. However, there is no generally accepted guide for carrying out this multidimensional needs assessment as a first step in palliative intervention.

Objectives: To develop an expert panel-endorsed interview guide that would enable proactive and systematic Multidimensional needs Assessment in the Palliative care initial encounter (MAP).

Experiences of Isolation among Patients Hospitalized during an Infectious Disease Outbreak: A Systematic Review and Meta-Ethnography.

Hospital isolation is common for people during infectious disease outbreaks. Anxiety, stress, depression and other psychosocial outcomes have been reported due to these measures. However, there is scarce evidence about the experience of being isolated and about best practices for empathic clinical care in these circumstances.

Control in patients with advanced cancer: an interpretative phenomenological study.

Background: In the context of life-threatening illness, loss of control is argued as a source of suffering and loss of perceived dignity, whereas having control over the dying process has been seen as a way of maintaining personal independence. Little is known about the meaning of control from the patients' perspectives. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore how patients with advanced cancer understand control, in terms of underlying beliefs, attitudes, and expectations consistent with self-efficacy, in different dimensions of their life, their illness, and their healthcare.

Autonomy and control in the wish to die in terminally ill patients: A systematic integrative review.

Background/objective: Personal autonomy and control are major concepts for people with life-limiting conditions. Patients who express a wish to die (WTD) are often thought of wanting it because of loss of autonomy or control. The research conducted so far has not focused on personal beliefs and perspectives; and little is known about patients' understanding of autonomy and control in this context.

Older Age: A Protective Factor Against Perceived Dignity-Related Distress in Patients With Advanced Cancer?

Context: Most older adults will face threats to loss of health and social support, which can affect their perceived dignity. Although problems with perceived dignity increase in the context of cancer, the specific experience for those older compared with younger patients with advanced cancer has not been described despite its contributions to the wish to hasten death (WTHD).

Objectives: To understand the influence of age group to the perception of dignity, considering changes in quality of life and the WTHD in patients with advanced cancer.

The potential impact of bereavement grief on workers, work, careers, and the workplace.

Bereavement grief is typically very painful and often highly consequential. People who are working could be significantly impacted by the death of someone they care about. A qualitative study sought an understanding of the lived experience of bereavement on the mourner's ability to work and their work-related experiences following the death of a loved one.

Experiencing the Sublime in a Palliative Care Unit.

All of us, without exception, must sooner or later face the inevitability of death. However, as comparative studies of different cultures show, the idea that death is something to be feared, denied or hidden away is far from universal. Undeniably, many people do not have a 'good' death, and those with a terminal illness experience suffering, pain, and even despair, a sense of dignity lost.

Health-related quality of life in patients with advanced cancer who express a wish to hasten death: A comparative study.

Background: Some evidence suggests the wish to hasten death is related to poor health-related quality of life. Deficits in perceived dignity and self-efficacy are risk factors for wish to hasten death that also impact health-related quality of life.

Aim: To compare perceived health-related quality of life, dignity and self-efficacy in patients with advanced cancer who either do (case group) or do not (control group) express a wish to hasten death.

Proactive and systematic multidimensional needs assessment in patients with advanced cancer approaching palliative care: a study protocol.

Introduction: The benefits of palliative care rely on how healthcare professionals assess patients' needs in the initial encounter/s; crucial to the design of a personalised therapeutic plan. However, there is currently no evidence-based guideline to perform this needs assessment. We aim to design and evaluate a proactive and systematic method for the needs assessment using quality guidelines for developing complex interventions.

A Research Literature Review to Determine How Bereavement Programs Are Evaluated.

A review of all 44 research reports published between 2000 and 2018 on bereavement program evaluation was undertaken to identify evaluation methods and assess their apparent efficacy. Bereavement program evaluations varied considerably, with multiple data collection methods per study common (61.4%) over single methods (38.

A Philosophical View on the Experience of Dignity and Autonomy through the Phenomenology of Illness.

In the context of the end of life, many authors point out how the experience of identity is crucial for the well-being of patients with advanced disease. They define this identity in terms of autonomy, control, or dependence, associating these concepts with the sense of personal dignity. From the perspective of the phenomenology of embodiment, Kay Toombs and other authors have investigated the ways disease can impact on the subjective world of patients and have stressed that a consideration of this personal world can promote understanding and recognition of their experience.

Feeling like a burden to others and the wish to hasten death in patients with advanced illness: A systematic review.

Studies that have explored the wish to hasten death (WTHD) in patients with advanced illness have found that the feeling of being a burden may trigger WTHD. Research suggests that both the feeling and the wish are indicators of multidimensional suffering whose meaning may depend on the patient's biographical background. Therefore, we carried out a systematic review and meta-ethnography.

The role of perceived dignity and control in the wish to hasten death among advanced cancer patients: A mediation model.

Objective: The objective of the study is to test a model in which perceived loss of dignity and control are proposed, along with symptoms of depression and functional impairment, as risk factors for the wish to hasten death (WTHD) in advanced cancer patients.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 193 patients in an oncology unit. Outcome measures included perceived control, performance status, symptoms of depression, perceived dignity, and the WTHD.

Ethical Challenges for an Understanding of Suffering: Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking and the Wish to Hasten Death in Advanced Patients.

Some persons with advanced disease but no significant cognitive impairments consciously decide to stop taking food and fluids orally, even though they remain physically able to do so. The question is to what extent voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) may be considered an expression of a wish to hasten death, in the sense that the latter has been defined recently. We analyze the data reported in some studies in relation to primary care patients who died as a result of VSED and examine their results in light of the qualitative findings of patients that expressed a wish to die.

Assumptions and moral understanding of the wish to hasten death: a philosophical review of qualitative studies.

It is not uncommon for patients with advanced disease to express a wish to hasten death (WTHD). Qualitative studies of the WTHD have found that such a wish may have different meanings, none of which can be understood outside of the patient's personal and sociocultural background, or which necessarily imply taking concrete steps to ending one's life. The starting point for the present study was a previous systematic review of qualitative studies of the WTHD in advanced patients.

Understanding meaning in life interventions in patients with advanced disease: A systematic review and realist synthesis.

Background: Among patients with advanced disease, meaning in life is thought to enhance well-being, promote coping and improve the tolerance of physical symptoms. It may also act as a buffer against depression and hopelessness. As yet, there has been no synthesis of meaning in life interventions in which contextual factors, procedures and outcomes are described and evaluated.