Preserving the integrity of personhood in people with advanced cancer: An in-depth qualitative study among patients, relatives, and care professionals.

Background: Every advanced cancer diagnosis brings enormous challenges to patients and their relatives on numerous levels: be it physical, practical, social challenges, or on a more personal level. While specific aspects have been researched before, an overarching approach is lacking.

Aim: To understand the lived experiences of people with advanced cancer, to identify gaps along the cancer care continuum, to identify potential opportunities for meaningful interventions and to develop a theoretical framework for practitioners and researchers.

End-of-Life Care Preferences of Patients with Advanced Urological Malignancies: An Explorative Survey Study at a Tertiary Referral Center.

Many people want to die at home, but it is often not possible because they do not share their wishes with family members. This study was conducted to find out the extent to which patients with advanced urological malignancies had wishes regarding their final stage of life, made arrangements accordingly, and communicated their wishes to relatives and health care professionals. We conducted a survey among advanced urological tumor patients during their clinic visit at a German university hospital using a 31-item questionnaire.

NEO-SPEAK: A conceptual framework that underpins breaking bad news in neonatology.

Objective: Breaking bad news in neonatology is a frequent and difficult challenge. Although there are guidelines for communicating with parents in pediatrics and neonatology, the specific framework for breaking bad news in neonatology has not been studied in more detail. Therefore, we aimed to identify determinants that are important for successful managing breaking bad news in neonatology from professionals' perspective and to develop a conceptual framework that underpins this challenging task.

How Safe Do Dying People Feel at Home? Patients' Perception of Safety While Receiving Specialist Community Palliative Care.

Background: There is a research gap regarding safety concerns of patients at the end of life. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore whether patients under specialist community palliative care feel safe at home and which factors affect the perceived safety. Furthermore, we investigated if perception of safety is associated with different aspects of subsequent care.

Developing a care pathway for hospital-based advance care planning for cancer patients: A modified Delphi study.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to develop a care pathway for a hospital-based advance care planning service for cancer patients.

Methods: A web-based modified Delphi study consulted an expert panel consisting of a convenience sample of stakeholders including professionals with a special interest in advance care planning as well as a 'public and patient involvement group'. After generating ideas for core elements of a care pathway in the first round, numerical ratings and rankings informed the multi-professional research steering group's decision process eventually resulting in a final pathway.

Factors associated with hospitalisations of patients with chronic heart failure approaching the end of life: A systematic review.

Background: Heart failure has high mortality and is linked to substantial burden for patients, carers and health care systems. Patients with chronic heart failure frequently experience recurrent hospitalisations peaking at the end of life, but most prefer to avoid hospital. The drivers of hospitalisations are not well understood.

Measuring Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease-A Call to Rethink Conceptualizations and Assessments.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic condition that considerably impacts the perception of quality of life (QoL) in both patients and their caregivers. Modern therapeutic approaches and social efforts strive at maintaining and promoting QoL. It has emerged as a fundamental parameter for clinical follow-up and poses one of the most important endpoints in scientific and economic evaluations of new care models.

Palliative care of older glioblastoma patients in neurosurgery.

Purpose: The care of older neurosurgical patients at the end life is a particularly demanding challenge. Especially, the specific needs of very old patients with glioblastoma at the end of life are at risk of being deprived of adequate care.

Methods: Based on a narrative literature review, this article aims to explore key issues of the thematic intersection of geriatric glioblastoma patients, palliative care and neurosurgery.

[Before the diagnosis was established … A retrospective analysis of bereavement care in Germany].

Introduction: In Germany, many health care providers work in bereavement care. An epidemiological study of this field of work has not yet been conducted.

Methods: In the initial survey of this three-phase trend study the situation of grief-specific health care in Germany in 2009/2010 is examined, i.

': A qualitative evaluation of a collaborative advance care planning-approach.

Background: Impaired readiness may hinder purposeful advance care planning in cancer patients. To reduce barriers to participation in end-of-life decision-making, a collaborative intervention was developed combining a psycho-oncological approach of dignity-based and cognitive-behavioural interventions, followed by a standardised advance care planning-process.

Aim: To evaluate the novel collaborative advance care planning-approach by synthetising cancer patient and carer perspectives on communicational and relational effects.

Non-lesional treatment options for tremor in idiopathic Parkinson syndrome: a protocol for a systematic literature review.

Introduction: Idiopathic Parkinson syndrome (iPS) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders characterised by the triad of bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. Tremor at rest predominantly at one side is often perceived by patients as severely disabling and yet ranges among the most difficult symptoms to treat. In medically refractory cases, lesional approaches have proven to be effective alternatives.

Management of constipation in patients with Parkinson's disease.

A considerable body of research has recently emerged around nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) and their substantial impact on patients' well-being. A prominent example is constipation which occurs in up to two thirds of all PD-patients thereby effecting psychological and social distress and consequently reducing quality of life. Despite the significant clinical relevance of constipation, unfortunately little knowledge exists on effective treatments.