Attitudes Toward Medical Assistance in Dying Among Swedish Palliative Care Professionals.

The debate over legalizing medical assistance in dying (assisted dying) is ongoing, also in Nordic countries such as Sweden where assisted dying is illegal. A 2020 survey by the Swedish Medical Association highlighted varied perspectives, with 41% of physicians supporting and 34% opposing legalization. Professionals in palliative care were more negative toward it.

A core outcome set for best care for the dying person: Results of an international Delphi study and consensus meeting.

Background: Outcome measurement is essential to progress clinical practice and improve patient care.

Aim: To develop a Core Outcome Set for best care for the dying person.

Design: We followed the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative guidelines, which involved identifying potential outcomes via a systematic literature review (n = 619 papers) and from participants in the "iLIVE" project (10 countries: 101 patients, 37 family members, 63 clinicians), followed by a two-round Delphi study, and a consensus meeting.

Dealing With Temporality in Patients With Life-Limiting Disease: An International Qualitative Study.

The prospect of death influences people's thoughts about and how they deal with their remaining time. We aimed to understand whether patients with progressive, life-limiting diseases are oriented in the past, present, or future and how they deal with temporality. We conducted 57 in-depth interviews with end-of-life patients in 10 countries using thematic analysis at three levels (i.

'Someone must do it': multiple views on family's role in end-of-life care - an international qualitative study.

Background: Family is a crucial social institution in end-of-life care. Family caregivers are encouraged to take on more responsibility at different times during the illness, providing personal and medical care. Unpaid work can be overburdening, with women often spending more time in care work than men.

Nurses' experiences of using the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale with patients in specialized palliative care-A qualitative focus group study.

Aim: To explore nurses' experiences of using the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) as a communication tool in specialized palliative care.

Design: This study employed a qualitative inductive approach. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research were followed for reporting.

The content and characteristics of face-to-face interventions to encourage patients' enrollment in cardiac rehabilitation; a scoping review.

Purpose: To provide an overview of the content and characteristics of face-to-face interventions to encourage enrollment in exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR).

Methods: Following a published protocol describing the methods, six databases were searched. The search was limited to studies published from January 2000 to December 2021.

Increased patient satisfaction by integration of palliative care into geriatrics-A prospective cohort study.

Background: Integration of oncology and palliative care has been shown to increase quality of life in advanced disease. To meet the needs of the growing older population, integration of palliative care and geriatrics has been proposed but scarcely described.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to integrate palliative care into geriatrics by a structured care guide, the Swedish Palliative Care Guide, and to evaluate its effect on patient satisfaction, health-related quality of life and symptom burden, compared to a control group.

Striving towards normality in an unpredictable situation. A qualitative interview study of how persons newly diagnosed with incurable oesophageal and gastric cancer manage everyday life.

Purpose: Getting an incurable oesophageal or gastric cancer diagnosis is a major stressful life event associated with severe physical, psychosocial and existential challenges. To provide timely and efficient support, based on patients' experiences, the aim of the study was to explore how patients newly diagnosed with incurable oesophageal and gastric cancer manage everyday life.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 patients 1-3 months after being diagnosed with incurable oesophageal or gastric cancer.

Dying during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sweden: Relatives' Experiences of End-of-Life Care (the CO-LIVE Study).

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen many deaths, but the majority were for causes other than COVID-19. However, end-of-life care in all settings has been affected by measures limiting the spread of the virus, for patients with and without COVID-19. The Swedish coronavirus strategy was different compared to many other countries, which might have affected end-of-life care.

Symptoms, problems and quality of life in patients newly diagnosed with oesophageal and gastric cancer - a comparative study of treatment strategy.

Background: Patients with oesophageal and gastric cancer have a low likelihood of being cured and suffer from a broad spectrum of symptoms and problems that negatively affect their quality-of-life (QOL). Although the majority (67-75%) of patients at the time of diagnosis suffer from an incurable disease, research has primarily focused on the pre- and postoperative phase among patients treated with curative intent, with little attention to symptoms and problems in the diagnostic phase, especially in those who cannot be offered a cure.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study 158 patients newly diagnosed with oesophageal and gastric cancer visiting the surgical outpatient department for a preplanned care visit were included consecutively during 2018-2020.

Similarities and differences between China and Sweden regarding the core features of palliative care for people aged 60 or older: a systematic scoping review.

Background: Despite the increasing longevity of the world's population, with an unprecedented rise in the number of people who need palliative care (PC), there has been sparse research regarding palliative care for older people, especially when it comes to comparison of PC between healthcare systems and cultures. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to identify the characteristics of the body of literature and to examine the knowledge gaps concerning PC research for older people (> 60 years) in two healthcare systems and cultures, mainland China and Sweden.

Methods: The guidelines PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews), and PICOS (Patient/population, Intervention, Comparison/control, and Outcome) were used.

Face-to-face interventions to encourage enrolment in cardiac rehabilitation: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation has become an integral part of secondary treatment of cardiovascular heart disease. Despite evidence demonstrating that cardiac rehabilitation improves prognoses, reduces disease progression and helps patients to find a new foothold in life, many patients do not enrol. Face-to-face interventions can encourage patients to enrol; however, it is unclear which strategies have been developed, how they are structured in a hospital context and whether they target the life-world of the patients.

A novel care guide for personalised palliative care - a national initiative for improved quality of care.

Background: Even when palliative care is an integrated part of the healthcare system, the quality is still substandard for many patients and often initiated too late. There is a lack of structured guidelines for identifying and caring for patients; in particular for those with early palliative care needs. A care guide can act as a compass for best practice and support the care of patients throughout their palliative trajectory.

Enduring life in between a sense of renewal and loss of courage: lifeworld perspectives one year after hip fracture.

: To explore everyday life experiences of being active in aged adults´ with walking impairment one year after hip fracture (HF).: A phenomenological-hermeneutic study design is based on Heidegger´s and Gadamer´s thinking focusing on aged adults being-in-the-world one year after HF. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted from May to July 2017 in the homes of nine participants, who were part of a longitudinal qualitative study with four interview-rounds for a period of 18 months after the HF event.

The ups and downs of lifestyle modification: An existential journey among persons with severe obesity.

Background: Maintaining a healthy living after the end of a lifestyle intervention is a challenge for persons with severe obesity. Measurable outcomes are often emphasised, but there is a need for understanding the process of lifestyle change and the long-term perspectives among persons with severe obesity.

Aim And Objective: To describe and deepen the understanding of how persons with severe obesity experience making and maintaining lifestyle changes in everyday life three years after lifestyle intervention.

Sensations, symptoms, and then what? Early bodily experiences prior to diagnosis of lung cancer.

Lung cancer (LC) generally lacks unique core symptoms or signs. However, there are a multitude of bodily sensations that are often non-specific, not easily understood, and many times initially not recognized as indicative of LC by the affected person, which often leads to late diagnosis. In this international qualitative study, we inductively analyzed retrospective accounts of 61 people diagnosed with LC in Denmark, England and Sweden.

Development of an international Core Outcome Set (COS) for best care for the dying person: study protocol.

Background: In contrast to typical measures employed to assess outcomes in healthcare such as mortality or recovery rates, it is difficult to define which specific outcomes of care are the most important in caring for dying individuals. Despite a variety of tools employed to assess different dimensions of palliative care, there is no consensus on a set of core outcomes to be measured in the last days of life. In order to optimise decision making in clinical practice and comparability of interventional studies, we aim to identify and propose a set of core outcomes for the care of the dying person.

[Redefining palliative care- focusing serious suffering of severe illness].

Palliative care was initially developed for patients with a cancer diagnosis and severe symptoms. Despite the ambition to broaden the palliative care approach to include other groups, patients with cancer are still a majority in specialised palliative care. The broader view and development of palliative care has led to an intense debate on existing definitions.

Being active 1½ years after hip fracture: a qualitative interview study of aged adults' experiences of meaningfulness.

Background: Being active is vital and a source of well-being. However, 18 months after hip fracture (HF), progress seems to have come to a halt. Aged adults may feel vulnerable, experiencing ongoing dependency and limited possibilities for socializing.

The convivial and the pastoral in patient-doctor relationships: a multi-country study of patient stories of care, choice and medical authority in cancer diagnostic processes.

Experiences of cancer diagnosis are changing in light of both the increasingly technological-clinical diagnostic processes and the socio-political context in which interpersonal relations take place. This has raised questions about how we might understand patient-doctor relationship marked by asymmetries of knowledge and social capital, but that emphasise patients' empowered choices and individualised care. As part of an interview study of 155 participants with bowel or lung cancer across Denmark, England and Sweden, we explored participants' stories of the decisions made during their cancer diagnostic process.

Co-afflicted but invisible: A qualitative study of perceptions among informal caregivers in cancer care.

This article explores the lived experience of informal caregivers in cancer care, focusing on the perceived burden and needs of individuals seeking support from an informal group for next of kin. A total of 28 individuals who were closely related to a patient with cancer participated in focus group interviews. Three themes were identified: setting aside one's own needs, assuming the role of project manager, and losing one's sense of identity.

Neighbour noise annoyance is associated with various mental and physical health symptoms: results from a nationwide study among individuals living in multi-storey housing.

Background: Noise exposure is considered a stressor that may potentially exert negative health effects among the exposed individuals. On a population basis, the most prevalent and immediate response to noise is annoyance, which is an individually experienced phenomenon that may activate physiological stress-responses and result in both physical and mental symptoms. Health implications of traffic noise have been investigated thoroughly, but not of neighbour noise.

Dying With Unrelieved Pain-Prescription of Opioids Is Not Enough.

Context: Fear of pain resonates with most people, in particular, in relation to dying. Despite this, there are still people dying with unrelieved pain.

Objectives: We quantified the risk, and investigated risk factors, for dying with unrelieved pain in a nationwide observational cohort study.

Being active after hip fracture; older people's lived experiences of facilitators and barriers.

Hip fracture (HF) incidents can severely restrict the activity and well-being of older people. While participation in activities may be related to lived experiences of meaningfulness, the aim of this study was to explore facilitators and barriers for being active as experienced by older people during the first six months after HF. The study used a phenomenological-hermeneutic methodology informed by the philosophies of Heidegger and Gadamer.