Words describing feelings about death: A comparison of sentiment for self and others and changes over time.

Understanding public attitudes towards death is needed to inform health policies to foster community death awareness and preparedness. Linguistic sentiment analysis of how people describe their feelings about death can add to knowledge gained from traditional self-reports. This study provided the first description of emotive attitudes expressed towards death utilising textual sentiment analysis for the dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance.

Older Persons' and Their Caregivers' Perspectives and Experiences of Research Participation With Impaired Decision-Making Capacity: A Scoping Review.

Background And Objectives: Human research ethics statements support the equitable inclusion of diverse groups. Yet older people are underrepresented in clinical research, especially those with impaired decision-making capacity. The aim of this study was to identify the perspectives and experiences of older persons and their caregivers of research participation with impaired decision-making capacity.

"Standing Shoulder to Shoulder to Tell the Family What Was Really Going On": A Qualitative Study Exploring Palliative Care Clinicians' Perceptions of "Patient-Centered Family Meetings".

Family meetings are often conducted in palliative care, but there is no universal agreed or accepted model. A new model of Patient-Centered Family Meetings is proposed whereby the patient sets the agenda. To seek palliative care clinicians' perceptions and experiences of Patient-Centered Family Meetings ("Meetings") and their acceptability and feasibility in the inpatient specialist palliative care setting.

A randomized, double-blind, crossover, dose ranging study to determine the optimal dose of oral opioid to treat breakthrough pain for patients with advanced cancer already established on regular opioids.

Background: Pain in people with advanced cancer is prevalent. When a stable dose of opioids is established, people still experience episodic breakthrough pain for which dosing of an immediate release opioid is usually a proportion of the total daily dose.

Methods: This multi-site, double blind, randomized trial tested three dose proportions (1/6, 1/8, 1/12 of total daily dose) in two blocks, each block with three dose proportions in random order (6 numbered bottles in total).

Lidocaine for Cancer Pain in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Internationally, use of lidocaine infusions to treat cancer pain varies by center. Existing systematic reviews do not adequately inform use of lidocaine in cancer pain.

Objective: To assess the effects of systemic sodium channel blockers on cancer pain in adults, review the dose protocols for administration, and assess toxicity.

The VOICE Study: Valuing Opinions, Individual Communication and Experience: building the evidence base for undertaking Patient-Centred Family Meetings in palliative care - a mixed methods study.

Background: Despite family meetings being widely used to facilitate discussion among patients, families, and clinicians in palliative care, there is limited evidence to support their use. This study aims to assess the acceptability and feasibility of Patient-Centred Family Meetings in specialist inpatient palliative care units for patients, families, and clinicians and determine the suitability and feasibility of validated outcome measures from the patient and family perspectives.

Methods: The study is a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design with pre-planned Patient-Centred Family Meetings at the intervention site.

Patient-centered family meetings in palliative care: a quality improvement project to explore a new model of family meetings with patients and families at the end of life.

Background: Family meetings in palliative care can enhance communication with family members and identify unmet needs. However, the patient's voice may not be heard.

Methods: This pre and post-test quality improvement project was conducted from 2013-2014 and investigated a patient-centered family meeting, which is a different approach to palliative care family meetings, to determine its feasibility and acceptability for patients, family and the palliative care team.

Sleep disturbances in caregivers of patients with advanced cancer: A systematic review.

Objective: Sleep disturbances are a common issue for those who provide informal care to someone with a life-limiting condition. The negative consequences of poor sleep are well documented. The purpose of the present study was to determine the sleep patterns of caregivers of patients with advanced cancer.

Delirium prevalence, incidence, and implications for screening in specialist palliative care inpatient settings: a systematic review.

Background: Delirium is a serious neuropsychiatric syndrome frequently experienced by palliative care inpatients. This syndrome is under-recognized by clinicians. While screening increases recognition, it is not a routine practice.

The "therapeutic footprint" of medical, complementary and alternative therapies and a doctor's duty of care.

Complex societal factors unrelated to evidence of efficacy influence the increasing use of complementary and alternative therapies, which can be viewed as one form of health consumerism. The "therapeutic footprint" is a conceptual model that "plots" medical therapies and complementary and alternative therapies in relationship to one another and to their levels of risk and supporting evidence, acknowledging that medical therapies also entail risks. Philosophies about management of risk and adverse effects differ between complementary and alternative therapies and standard medical care, due to fundamental differences between professionalism within medicine and the demands of health consumerism.